Runaway
by Aliera
Summary: Twelve year old Severus Snape runaway from home to muggle London. Can a young wizard survive on his own? STORY COMPLETE!!! please read AND review.
1. Growing pains

Disclaimer: J.K.Rowlings owns everything, except: Uncle Belchior Snape, Beatrice Potter, Mandy Snape and Jonah Potter. I do this for fun and won't get monetary rewards for it.  
  
I hope you enjoy this  
  
Please review  
  
  
  
RUNAWAY  
  
  
  
Growing pains  
  
  
  
Severus had FINALY, received his invitation to Hogwarts: the school of magic, witchcraft and wizarding.  
  
Mum was glad. She was on a roll.  
  
Severus couldn't suppress the feeling her gleeful state was, for the most part, at the prospect of getting rid of him. Worse still, James Potter would be attending there too, with Sirius Black 'his siamese twin'.  
  
Lucius Malfoy was bad enough with his superior manners, but Potter. Potter was everybody's 'Golden Boy'. The son every mother in mum's circle of friends wanted to have.  
  
"If you were more like Jamie." mum would say every other day ".So polite, so smart, so witty, so handsome." and so on.  
  
Severus wanted to vomit. Handsome? The git's hair has like a mop! Couldn't a boy have an aversion to water? For Merlin sake, what was this female obsession with his hair? Grease was surely a conservative substance. Just wait until precious Jamie got to fifty and bald.  
  
"I'll laugh then".  
  
Severus was smart too. AND polite! He just wasn't a "people" person. He lacked social skills to impress everybody with his wit and charm. That didn't mean he had none.  
  
In the few parties at Malfoy Manor, his parents had let him attend with them, Lucius had been "the king" of the place, bossing Severus around and looking him over his shoulder. Severus didn't like Lucius and couldn't even show it. Mum would smack him in the ears if he would embarrass her and father in their "reunions".  
  
In the Potters house, it was worse. Father wouldn't go there, but mum and Mrs Potter were friends and in spite of father's feelings, mum lived to share the most recent gossip with James' mother.  
  
Severus guessed his parents weren't very happy together. They kept that external image of a solid couple, attending the most important social events but, at home, they didn't talk. They didn't fight either. It was just this. silence.  
  
Now to see mum happy, you just had to stop at the Potters' house occasionally. She'd be envying the Potters life, their status, their children, and Mr Potter's post at the Ministry.  
  
That was, supposedly, a good reason for father's dislike of them. Severus could sympathise. He certainly didn't like James Potter, who surely didn't ignore nor act superior near Severus. No! Since the first time Severus had laid his eyes on James Potter and Sirius Black in Basic School for Young Wizards, the two 'golden bastards' had bullied him.  
  
Not only at school but also at every visit to the Potters, Severus would end up running to save his life, or at least his pride, while mum would be purring:  
  
"How lively Jamie is."  
  
Mrs Potter would agree, pleased with her offspring: James and Jonah Potter. Baby Jonah at her lap like a prized toy.  
  
When James and his shadow Sirius invariably grabbed Severus and carried on with whatever wild and humiliating new schemes they had come up with, none of the mothers would notice, dismissing it as 'children jokes'.  
  
Severus knew better and, felt the worst for it. He wanted to shout and bang the doors at home. Declare his independence and state he would never EVER put his feet at the Potters house again.  
  
"Father got away with it, did he not?"  
  
Mum wouldn't have it. So much for his dream of independence.  
  
The torture didn't finish with the end of the visit. On the way home, mum would keep repeating her wishes: "Couldn't you be like Jamie? Couldn't you try?" once she came up with: "Maybe I could cut your hair."  
  
"No!!!!" That time Severus had to run from her until she forgot that wild notion.  
  
The moments of his childhood where Severus felt most happy were Uncle Belchior's visits. Now, this was one of the most interesting people Severus had ever laid his eyes on; Uncle Belchior was a mediwizard. He had lots and lots of books he let Severus read, and he made his own potions!!!! He said he could only trust himself with the kind of things he wanted a potion to do. How cooler could you get?  
  
Severus worshipped his father's brother, and only wished he'd come and visit more often.  
  
Mum seemed to barely tolerate her brother in law, but Severus couldn't put his finger on the reason. As far as he could observe, (and Severus could pride himself in his observation skills) Uncle Belchior was perfectly polite to her, and to anybody else he talked to.  
  
Still, in spite of his mother's dislike, or maybe a little because of it, Severus enjoyed his uncle's presence as much as he could. With every visit, the mediwizard brought some present: some interesting book about potions or charms or some rare ingredient Severus, at his young age, would have found impossible to gather. Two times, in the absence of his parents, Uncle Belchior took Severus to Knockturn-Alley, so he could learn where to replenish his stock, in case of need.  
  
Mum would have a fit if she ever found about these escapades. Severus knew better than to tell her. Uncle Belchior never had to ask him to lie to his parents.  
  
The mediwizard also evaluated his nephew's achievements in potions. Greeting his successes with enthusiasm, and avoiding (not very convincingly) showing disappointment over failure.  
  
Severus decided, at the age of ten, he wanted to be a mediwizard.  
  
His father told him outright it was nonsense. He was supposed to follow his political steps.  
  
That was what he got for being foolish enough to state his wishes aloud. Father's derisive laughter would follow Severus in years to come. The one thing Severus knew he was good at was no good in his father's eyes, and there was NO way to please mum.  
  
Even Hogwarts. It had been mum's decision that Severus should proceed with his education at Hogwarts.  
  
Father, of course, was against it. He had studied at Durmstrang, All the Snape family line had, and his ONLY son should too.  
  
Severus had eavesdropped this argument, and felt the bitterness in his father's tone. He didn't understood why, and found himself praying not to go to Durmstrang. In years to come, he would ask himself, should he have prayed to go?  
  
Mum won that one, but father insisted in choosing and purchasing his first wand in Romania. His son wouldn't use an Olivander's Wand.  
  
It distressed Severus, to hear James and Sirius brag about how they had gone to Diagon-alley and how their wands had chosen for them, after they had received their invitations to attend Hogwarts in September.  
  
It was bad enough to hear mum complain: "how come you didn't receive your invitation yet?" as if it was his fault.  
  
"I'm still ten" he would try to explain: "Pretty-boy James became eleven last week".  
  
His boldness would grant him a scolding, what else was new? What really worried him was his father choosing his wand! How could he know he would get it right? It took a whole week to father's return from his business trip with his wand, carefully protected in a Dragon-hide case.  
  
Father was wearing an expectant smile, and was not disappointed.  
  
In spite, of Severus' fears, when he held his wand, it felt right. Sort of like, it had always been part of himself, and he had only noticed it then.  
  
"25 cm, Fig-tree" explained father "With a vampire hair in its core"  
  
"Vampire?" Severus asked in awe.  
  
"The perfect wand for a Snape" assured father.  
  
"How come?" he asked, knowing what was coming.  
  
"Your ancestry rules in you. The blood can tell"  
  
Severus thought it would be wise not to gloat about his ancestry or wand in front of anyone, but kept the wand with pride.  
  
He got his Hogwarts invitation in mid August, by his eleventh birthday. Mum threw a big party, and invited everybody. It seemed like it was the letter's birthday, for all the attention Severus got. Everybody read the missive though.  
  
So on the first of September, he found himself at the nine and ¾ platform at King's Cross Station, surrounded by Hogwarts students, noisily meeting each other after two holyday months.  
  
Mum kept her hands in his shoulders, smiling at the other mothers, happy for joining "the club".  
  
When the Potters arrived with James and baby Jonah, her smile grow ever larger, although Severus didn't see how this could be possible. He tried to run, but mum's hands clutching at his shoulders made him stay put.  
  
"Hello Beatrice!" She chirped happy.  
  
Mrs Potter approached, and ignoring Severus between them, kissed the air beside his mother's cheek.  
  
"So good to see you again Mandy!"  
  
That, as if they hadn't see each other the day before.  
  
Sirius arrived with his mischievous smile, much to James' delight and after some very noisy goodbye kisses and thousands of last minute pieces of advice from their respective mothers, they were allowed to enter the Hogwarts Express with their trunks.  
  
This was it.  
  
This was the first time Severus would be on his own.  
  
  
  
  
  
Liked it? I'll be writing more, as soon as I can. Please be kind and review, I'd like to know what you think. 


	2. A step too far

Disclaimer: Everybody knows which characters J. K. Rowling created. (Thank you!!!) Mine Are: Uncle Belchior, Mandy, Beatrice, Jonah and now my runaways: Jennifer (Jen), Javier, Johnny and Beef.  
  
Special thanks to: Clara, Maribel and Rocio for some very funny elucidations in Spanish.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Runaway  
  
  
  
A step too far.  
  
  
  
The first year, was over. Thanks to Merlin.  
  
Severus had of course, excelled in most of his classes. Father would not have less than that. It was bad enough Severus didn't show any enthusiasm, to enter the Slytherin Quidditch team. He liked the game, but wouldn't be caught dead flying on a broom. The idea was ridiculous and could only lead to new forms of humiliation.  
  
Severus could imagine, painfully easily, Potter, Black and Lupin, that mudblood Evans and even that lard ball Pettigrew jeering at the Slytherins and specially at him, screaming their lungs out: "Lets beat 'The Snake'!" or worse.  
  
He had kept to himself during the school year, studying hard, even through Christmas and Easter (lest he had to go to some Potter or Malfoy party), and trying (sometimes failing) to stay out of trouble.  
  
Let Potter try for a Quidditch place next year as he kept saying he would. Severus would keep being the top of his class, in whatever mattered instead of a buffoon on a broom doing pirouettes so that everybody would say he was great.  
  
The problem was he could stand that, in school, were he had the library and the dungeons to hide in when he felt the need to. He couldn't do that at home, where he didn't even stay long. Mum would drag him every other day to the Potters house.  
  
Always talking, mum. Always taking pride in her friend's son, and longing for one just the same. (Jamie this, Jamie that.) However, Severus was no Jamie, and had learned over a year in Slytherin, not to want to be Jamie or Sirius. Or the gang they formed: "The Marauders".  
  
What self-respecting person would voluntarily say: "I'm a Marauder"? Quidditch nuts, that's who.  
  
So, when mum would ask him to "get on that broom, and play Quidditch with Jamie and Sirius, like a normal boy", he would sulk and run inside the house. To sulk properly.  
  
He was twelve years old now! He would NOT let himself be humiliated by Potter and Black anymore, if he could help it.  
  
It was on one of those days in mid August, he heard mum complaining to Mrs Potter:  
  
"I don't know what's going to happen with Sevvie. He's getting to act so much like his father and uncle it scares me. I wish I had not married him." she confided. "I wish I'd never given him a child."  
  
"But darling" Mrs Potter, was holding mum's hands. "You were so in love with him. You said then."  
  
".That his vampire background aroused me." mum finished "It did. But it doesn't anymore. Not since Sevvie's birth. I don't love my husband and I never did. I did feel. Aroused around him. Can you understand this? Of course not Beatrice. You're married to Harry Potter and he is a wonderful, loving man. With no dark charisma, but all charismatic by himself."  
  
Mrs Potter kept silent for a moment, and then answered:  
  
"I really can't understand, but you are my friend Mandy. Is there anything I can do for you? You can ask."  
  
"Can you exchange sons with me?"  
  
"I'm afraid not."  
  
"Well. Then you can't do anything for me."  
  
Severus felt he had heard enough. Feeling stunned, he climbed the stairs to the up floor of the Potter's house in silence.  
  
What kind of wretched thing was he, that even his own mother loathed him so?  
  
He stood alone in a room for more than an hour, watching James Potter through the window. He was flying in the garden, catching small pebbles, little Jonah Potter, was throwing in the air. It was as if Severus did not exist, there in the window. Just watching, not interfering. Maybe he shouldn't exist if nobody wanted for him to exist. He should disappear  
  
Problem was, Severus didn't feel brave enough to end his life. If he was, he would have ended up in Gryffindor, wouldn't he? Mum sure would have preferred it, since he had not been placed at Ravenclaw, as she had been sure he would.  
  
Still, it felt good to think about being found there, dead in a Potter's room, with mum grieving and blaming herself for not having loved him the way he was.  
  
But. Would, she? Or would she be relieved? With her vampire-kindred son, gone, what would there be to tie her to vampire-kindred and hated husband? Severus wanted to cry but would not. Not there. NEVER at the Potter's house.  
  
He touched his forehead to the stone of the unlit fireplace. It felt cool. He closed his eyes thinking. When his fingers touched a glass vial over the stone, he opened his eyes and grabbed it to inspect it. His curiosity always got the better of him.  
  
Floo powder. Left in a vial, in a high enough place, little Jonah couldn't put his hands on. Obviously the Potters trusted their older son not to mess with the floo network and end up lost in the middle of nowhere.  
  
Severus did not stop to think twice about what he was doing. He lit the fireplace with a spell he shouldn't yet know how to perform.  
  
"Ingnitus." He grabbed a fist full of powder, and threw it in to the fire. "Knockturn alley." He screamed, and felt himself being pulled by some vacuum force at a dizzying speed, until he ended up in another fireplace, in a morbid looking store he had visited before in his uncle's company and his parents' ignorance.  
  
Cleaning his robes, he jumped out of the store, ignoring the keeper's shouts (who are you? Should teach you to play, with other person's fireplace!)  
  
He had learned, from uncle Belchior, of a passage, from Knockturn Alley to muggle London, and certainly wouldn't tell his intentions to the shopkeeper. 


	3. Hunger sucks

Disclaimer: If you read, my previous chapters, you know what I own, and what I don't. Johnny's song belongs to Queen.  
  
Once again, thank you to Clara, Rocio and Maribel for the Spanish (and in this chapter I'll use it).  
  
THANK YOU to my incredible beta reader Nyarth, for the needed help and comments.  
  
  
  
  
  
RUNAWAY  
  
3-Hunger sucks  
  
Knockturn Alley was a quiet street. Never the joyful noise of Diagon Alley here. Severus walked quickly, avoiding eye contact with the few witches and wizards in the street, in case he was stopped by someone he couldn't best. Almost any adult in the wizarding world, at that.  
  
Uncle Belchior had shown him the way to muggle London once before and how to open the exit.  
  
"Abre, alohomora." He tapped the huge rocks pilled over one another in the wall. They seemed to melt before his eyes. He stepped to the other side into a dark alley with no windows and only some rubbish cans at the end of it.  
  
Severus felt a lump in his throat. This was way too radical for him. He had never spoken to single muggle in his whole life. He looked back to Knockturn alley and remembered his mothers words; "He's getting to act so much like his father and uncle it scares me. I wish I had not married him. I wish I'd never given him a child". That made his decision for him.  
  
"Fecho." He paced the street carefully, making sure the floor was as solid as the magical street he'd left. Assured it wasn't going to crumble under his feet, he went on.  
  
  
  
It was a nice sunny day, if a bit cold. All day he walked the streets, observed the people. They did not look at him twice, in spite of his tunic. He looked so different, from the other children.  
  
Possibly, people just thought his mother had no taste. To which Severus would definitely agree in his present predicament. He rather liked what he saw of London. He spent most of his day in St James Park (benevolently ignoring the cursed name), watching the squirrels and swans until he started hungering for the crumbs of bread people were throwing to the animals.  
  
He felt then, that his plan had been rash and cemented over a base of hotheaded thoughts. He supposed it was his vampire ancestry, that so many times made him act in fury, on instinct and instead of with logic. He always regretted it after. Should he go back?  
  
His stomach told him definitely yes. His head said no, but with the passing hours his stomach was getting progressively more convincing. The night was as dark in muggle London as in the wizarding world. And as cold too.  
  
Severus wished he had his Hogwarts cloak as he lay down in foetal position on a garden stool. He clutched his arms, trying to keep his body warm. It was, by his reckoning, the worst night of his life.  
  
Severus did not know how much time he spent there. The clouds were covering the moon, and he could not guess at what time was it. It had passed enough, though, for him to decide he would freeze if he did not move. THAT was definitely not on his project to live a long life.  
  
He got up and started to run in the park to get warm. He'd stop periodically to rest, and then would start running again to stay warm. When the day came at last, he was exhausted, starved and frozen. These were enough reasons to convince Severus he should return home.  
  
Now, where was that dark alley? His sense of direction was a bit. disoriented, he guessed. He couldn't stop trembling as he walked the London streets, to no avail.  
  
"For Merlin's sake! All streets look the same! Who was the lunatic who designed this city? Should be at St Mungo's! This is like finding a needle in a haystack."  
  
By this time, and after cursing the "inventor" of London and his entire lineage, Severus' pride was going down the drain and he started weeping. He had given a step too large and wasn't ready face the consequences.  
  
"Shit, shit, shit!"  
  
He entered all the alleys he found, with an increasingly sinking feeling. He did not recognize any, as the passage to the wizarding word.  
  
Finally, he sat in one of those and cried; "I'm going to die here!"  
  
London was pretty noisy in the morning. The traffic was roaring, and people were talking everywhere. Severus got up, and once more began in search of the alley. He started to notice (with some curious and strange detachment) that, given enough starving time, he had stopped feeling his stomach. "Good".  
  
The feeling didn't last. The morning gave way to the afternoon, which lead into evening. Severus sat against a building wall, exhausted. His terror was giving way to numbness.  
  
That's when he heard a young voice singing:  
  
"I want to ride my bicycle, I want to ride my bike. I want to ride my bicycle, I want to ride it were I like."  
  
"You're such a kid!" Complained other young voice. "What a stupid song!"  
  
"He's a gilipollas." Agreed the voice of someone who was starting to change to his adult tone, but would fall shamefully into falsetto.  
  
"What is a gilipollas?" Asked the voice who had been singing.  
  
"That's what you are! Don't you know anything?"  
  
"I'm not Spanish! Why should I know what a gilipollas is?"  
  
"He is right, Javier." A new voice agreed.  
  
"Shut up woman! You're such a girl."  
  
"I am, a girl! What has that to do with his not speaking Spanish?"  
  
"Girls are always whining. Go away!"  
  
Severus peeked around the corner, to see the speakers. Three boys and a girl, all about his age. The shorthaired strawberry blond girl was openly facing a taller, brunette boy.  
  
"No!" The smallest boy of the group and the one who had been singing cut in. "She brought us food! Leave her alone."  
  
"I see." Answered the taller boy, once again falling in his falsetto tone "Johnny has a girlfriend."  
  
That brought a chuckle from the boy Severus had not heard speak yet and a complaint from the girl:  
  
"I'm not his girlfriend! He's nine; I'm ten! Can't you see the nonsense, you're saying?"  
  
"Cojones, who cares?"  
  
"What is coj."  
  
"I'll explain that one later!" Cut the girl. "Just eat! I have to go! If my mother gets home and finds I'm out I'll be punished!"  
  
The three boys needed no other incentive. They grabbed the paper bag the girl had brought, and started to devour its contents.  
  
Severus threw his pride and caution away and approached silently.  
  
The group froze in mid-mouthful to stare at him.  
  
"What do you want?" Asked the older one, Javier, roughly.  
  
Severus stopped in his tracks but did not allow himself to flee.  
  
"Que quieres, capullo?" Javier stepped forward menacingly.  
  
Now, Severus was unable to answer. He did not even understand the question.  
  
"I."  
  
"Stop it, Javier!" Ordered the girl. " Look at him! He's a pup!"  
  
Anger and frustration got the better of Severus:  
  
"Who are you calling a pup?" He yelled. "I'm twelve, and you're just ten." He stated, as if that settled the argument on who the "pup" was.  
  
The others were not convinced. They laughed their heads off and Johnny started to chant: " Pup, pup, puppy!"  
  
Severus' stomach was ruling him. He just couldn't go away. He also couldn't take his eyes from the bag with the food or the cookies the boys had in their hands.  
  
"Poor puppy." The girl understood. "Boys, share!"  
  
"No!" Snapped the brown haired one, who hadn't spoken yet "We're hungry too!"  
  
"You're eating!" The girl pressed. "And that's because I brought you food! I'm telling you to share!"  
  
Javier called: "Come here, pup!"  
  
"I'm not a pup!" Severus insisted though he obeyed.  
  
"Are you hungry?"  
  
"Yes." THAT was an understatement.  
  
"Where did you come from?"  
  
Well, that was certainly a question Severus did not wish to answer. "I.I'm a runaway."  
  
"From home?" asked the girl.  
  
"Humm. Yes. Can I have a cookie, please?"  
  
"You seem to need more than a cookie" the girl took the bag from Johnny's greedy hands. "I bought bread, some cheese, and cookies. It was all I could bring, this fast. Take some bread and cheese. Go on!"  
  
Severus grabbed two of the small loaves and devoured them in front of the muggles.  
  
"I'm Jen." The girl introduced herself while Severus was eating. "This is Johnny and he's nine" She tousled the blond boy's hair. "He is Beef." She pointed the one that hadn't enjoy shortening his meagre meal. "We think he has a demanding tapeworm! Eats like a horse and never gets fat!"  
  
"For crying out loud!" He complained, "Where do I have food to eat like a horse?"  
  
"This foul mouthed Spanish" Jen continued, as if never interrupted. "is Javier."  
  
"I'm the chief!" informed Javier, just to ensure quick-tongued Jen, was not.  
  
"Anyway" She shrugged. "they're all runaways"  
  
Severus looked at her meaningfully.  
  
"I am not." She answered the unasked question "And if I don't get home right now, I'll be grounded. See you."  
  
Swiftly, she turned her back on them and ran off.  
  
The boys threw themselves on the rest of the food, it the appetite, of the starving. The meal was fast finished. Javier looked at Severus and asked:  
  
"What do I do with you now, pendejo?" 


	4. The Thames

Disclaimer: Everybody knows the wonderful world J.K.Rowlings created. I just like to step inside once in a wile. I don't own it.  
  
Thank you to Nyarth for being a great beta-reader. She knows how much I need one. Thank you to the people who did review "Runaway" until now. I hope you keep enjoying it.  
  
The Thames  
  
Severus couldn't answer (which was becoming an annoyingly repetitive occurrence). Having some food in his (far from full) stomach, he was once again feeling the strength to keep his resolve on never returning home.  
  
"You don't have to do anything with me."  
  
"Yeah! Right! Do you have any place to stay?"  
  
Severus didn't have to think hard to answer;  
  
"No."  
  
"What do you have to eat?"  
  
"Nothing." He WAS feeling stupid.  
  
The Spanish boy looked at him, incredulously. "I guess you should stick to us, then."  
  
"Do you have a house, and food?" Asked Severus.  
  
"Not a house." Answered Beef. "But we can get food."  
  
Severus wasn't sure he wanted to know how.  
  
"Come along." Instructed Javier.  
  
As they ran along London streets, they passed by lots of people returning home after a day's work. They got to some darker, quieter alley.  
  
"There." Javier pointed some cardboard boxes, piled at the alley corner.  
  
"There?" Severus' eyes grew wide with disbelief. "You live there? In cardboard boxes?"  
  
"Yes! If you can get better, you can leave. "The three boys formed a strong, proud front. Apparently, Severus had committed a gaffe in not appreciating their 'House'.  
  
"Sorry! I don't! I just. Almost froze last night! How do you keep warm?"  
  
"We have some rugs and blankets." An appeased Johnny informed him. "We sleep together. It's warm. You'll see."  
  
"But." Javier warned, ".if you want to hang out here, you'll have to work like the rest of us."  
  
"Doing what?"  
  
"Hostias! What do you think? Stealing, of course!"  
  
"Steal." Severus had some bad feelings about this business. A Snape turned into a common thief? What would his mother."Okay."  
  
"Have you ever done it?" Asked Beef.  
  
"No. But I'm a fast learner" He added quickly to quell their doubtful gazes.  
  
"You'd better not screw up" Warned Javier. "If you want to get out, just go away now.  
  
"I don't want to get out! I told you I'll learn and I will!"  
  
"Right. Anyway, lessons start tomorrow." Informed Javier. "Now is time to sleep."  
  
It was Severus' first of many nights in the "Card Manor" as he started to call it. It was an improvement from his freezing, first night alone. He was warm now, enjoying the other boys' body heat. The down point was the smell. At Hogwarts, every student had his or her own bed. Despite there being four to five beds per dorm, smelling had never been an issue (for the last hundred years, at least). The bathrooms were there for some reason.  
  
Severus had never been a cleaning maniac, but certainly, those boys could use a bath. At that point so did he. Not unusually, he was stupid enough to state just that.  
  
Jen was with them. She'd evaded grounding and agreed a bath was a general need around the boys gang.  
  
Javier presented them his mischievous smile and said:  
  
"Okay! Lets have a bath!"  
  
When Severus saw the three boys stripping and jumping in the Thames, he froze at the riverside.  
  
"Come on pup!!" Called Johnny. "Jump!"  
  
"No."  
  
"Come on Greasy!" Challenged Beef "You're the one who was complaining!"  
  
"But. But this is the river!"  
  
Jen laughed, seated on the riverbank.  
  
"AND there's a girl watching!"  
  
"That's just Jen!" Answered Johnny who couldn't understand what there was to be ashamed of in front of that particular girl.  
  
Javier hoisted himself out of the water with an easy, feline grace.  
  
"Guarro! Get in the water!"  
  
"No!"  
  
In two strides, Javier grabbed Severus who was quite a bit smaller than the older Spanish boy was. It would have been easy for Severus to defend himself with a hex. He didn't want to do a spell in front of them, though. Uncle Belchior had warned him many times, NEVER to do magic in front of muggles. Unable to use his weapons, he was carried by the Spanish strong arms and both jumped to water.  
  
Severus screamed high pitch "I can't swim!"  
  
The cold water felt hard as a solid wall. It was like a shock. Worse was the panic when the older boy let him go. There was dark cold water everywhere! All over him! He couldn't breathe. His lungs were burning. The panic was becoming overwhelming. He couldn't think. Maybe that was because he couldn't breathe and was focusing on that. Then, when he really couldn't help it, Severus inhaled the dark water.  
  
  
  
"Breathe! One, two, three, four."  
  
Severus felt a strong pressure on his chest that made him cough repeatedly expelling, what seemed to be the whole river, from his lungs.  
  
"That's it!" He heard a tremulous voice over him. "Breathe Pup, please."  
  
He was trying, but it was painful. He could feel his blood stream running inside his veins and the weight of people's hands over his body. He could hear them talking but he could not see anything.  
  
He felt Javier strong arms holding his shoulders and helping him to sit up.  
  
"I can't see."  
  
"Open your eyes, pendejo!"  
  
Only then, he noticed his eyes were closed. Feeling relieved, he managed to open them and saw the troubled faces of the other children.  
  
"I'm breathing." He assured them.  
  
"He's so pale!" Insisted Jen, her blue eyes wide in fright. "Let's take him to my home."  
  
"And your mother?" Asked Beef.  
  
"My mother will be home by six. We have time. Help me carry him!"  
  
"I don't need to be carried" Complained Severus. "I can walk."  
  
The other didn't pay him any attention. Javier held him under his arms and half carried-half dragged him through identical London streets. They stopped in front of a house that looked like every other house in the street.  
  
Jen produced a key from her trousers pocket and opened the door.  
  
"Get in you lot! I don't want my snooping neighbours telling my parents about you."  
  
Severus was thrown onto a couch, shivering.  
  
"We have to take his clothes off." Said Jen.  
  
"No!" Severus spat, horrified.  
  
"Have anybody ever told you, you're a negative person?" Asked the girl.  
  
"He's shy!" Explained Javier. "Dumb woman! Go to the kitchen! I'll take his clothes."  
  
"Who are you sending to the kitchen?" Shouted ten years old Jen. "Haven't you heard about woman's emancipation?"  
  
"Women what?" Javier looked at her as if she had grown another head. "Get some blankets!" He ordered.  
  
Shooting a furious glare at the Spanish boy, Jen ran to obey to his instructions.  
  
"Now take those clothes off." Javier told Severus in a tone that admitted no arguments.  
  
Severus of course, did try.  
  
"I won't."  
  
"You take the clothes, or I'll take them myself."  
  
Severus had no answer to that. He stripped his robes and trousers and run behind the couch when Jen returned with the blankets.  
  
"He seems better." Jen pointed, throwing a blanket over his head.  
  
Severus covered himself and sat on the couch, welcoming the warmth he was starting to feel.  
  
"Thank you."  
  
"Why didn't you say, you couldn't swim?" Accused Beef.  
  
"I did."  
  
"I meant BEFORE jumping to water."  
  
"I did not jump on my will."  
  
"It's okay. He's okay!" Appeased Jen.  
  
"Yeah." Agreed Johnny.  
  
"It seems." Said Javier. ".I have more to teach you than I thought."  
  
"What are you teaching him?" Asked Jen innocently.  
  
"None of your damn business"  
  
"You're rude!"  
  
"And YOU are a glass-house flower."  
  
"You're in my house!"  
  
"So?"  
  
"So, you're rude."  
  
"You said that before!"  
  
".Talking to me that way. In my house!"  
  
Severus was becoming tired of listening to their bickering and intervened. "Do you have anything hot? Jen?"  
  
"What?" She asked annoyed at the interruption.  
  
"To eat or drink. To get us warm."  
  
"I could make tea."  
  
"We'll be poisoned." Teased Johnny.  
  
"Who offered you anything?" She snapped.  
  
"I did not complain!" Said Beef eagerly. "Do you have any cookies? You know, to go with the tea. Or scones."  
  
"You're a glutton." Jen decreed.  
  
"Is that bad?"  
  
"Forget it." She went to the kitchen to prepare their snack.  
  
The boys stayed there until they feared Jen's parents might arrive from work.  
  
That night, the "Card Manor" odour was no different from the other nights. 


	5. Marauders

Disclaimer: Rowlings is Rowlings. I'm just Aliera playing around the word she created. I do this for fun and YES, I'm having fun doing it.  
  
Thank you to my readers and reviewers. You make my day.  
  
  
  
  
  
MARAUDERS  
  
  
  
Severus had never felt so happy in his whole life. In the last month, he'd learn one new thing he was good at; picking wallets and robbing purses.  
  
He was praised daily by the group. They of course, didn't know he used simple charms like the levitate spell to get to his victims in silence and to make their possessions lighter. Concealment and silence charms were also becoming second nature. With magic help, he was quicker than any of the others and could perform such stunts even Javier couldn't help but be impressed.  
  
"You're a natural born thief." He told him one night, counting the money Severus had managed to bring to "card manor".  
  
"We're a team!" Answered Severus with such happiness he hadn't known he could express before. "We're natural..." He shut up when he noticed Jen arriving. It was a tacit agreement between the boys Jen should be left out of their subsistence activities. Javier put the money under his behind.  
  
"You're natural what?" Asked the girl who sat beside them  
  
"Weren't you supposed to be home muchacha?" Asked Javier.  
  
"My mother is working in this big reception dinner and my father is working the night shift." She answered matter-of-factly. "What would I be doing at home, alone?"  
  
"You should be there! It's eleven p.m. The streets are dangerous for a girl at this hour!"  
  
"For a boy, they're not?"  
  
"He's right, you know." Severus supported the group's chief.  
  
"I'm with you" Was Jen's overconfident answer. "What harm could come to me in your company?"  
  
"Tonta! The streets are dangerous!"  
  
"You know." She opted to ignore Javier. "We are a good group. Where are Beef and Johnny?"  
  
"Inside. Sleeping. As you should be doing."  
  
"We should have a name." Jen interrupted the Spanish boy, delivering this comment as if inventing a life concept.  
  
"What? Don't you have one?" Teased Severus.  
  
"Our group should have a striking name."  
  
"Striking? Who do you want to strike?"  
  
"Don't be silly Pup! I thought of a good name for us."  
  
"Us?" Javier cried in mock terror. "Since when, have we became US?"  
  
"I shudder to think what she came up with." Severus added.  
  
"I THOUGHT of a GOOD name! I read it in a book!"  
  
"So you haven't really invented."  
  
"Shut your bloody gob Pup! Listen; 'The Famous Five'." She smiled expectantly. "What do you think?"  
  
"Merlin." Severus made a disgusted face.  
  
"Gillipolhas! Not only a stupid name and it's already taken."  
  
"Yeah!" Severus readily agreed though he had never heard about those other 'Five' ones, famous or not.  
  
"Do you have a better name?" Jen challenged the boys.  
  
"YES!" Javier jumped. "No name."  
  
"Marauders." Severus answered, distracted, at the same time.  
  
Both Jen and Javier stared at him; "Come again?"  
  
"That's good!" Praised Jen. " It sounds bold!"  
  
"NO! It's not!" Severus said quickly. "It's stupid!"  
  
"Actually is good." Said Javier " And I don't know any 'Marauders'.  
  
"Neither do I! Marauders! We're the Marauders!" Jen tasted the name.  
  
"What's the problem 'Greasy pup'?"  
  
"Nothing!" Severus couldn't help but feel guilty using those other idiots' title. He used to be their greatest criticizer. He hated that name! This was like a call from the past. It reminded him of a world he didn't want to be reminded of. Why had he suggested THAT name? The others liked it though, and were enthusiastic about using it.  
  
Jen was thrilled to be up at this late hour, with the boys. It, righteously felt like transgression.  
  
Javier stated she was crazy and decided to ignore her. Maybe if she got bored, the girl would return home. He crawled inside 'Card Manor' and went to sleep.  
  
Severus would have too, but the girl begged him to stay awake just a little bit longer.  
  
"Come on! When can I have an opportunity like this one again?"  
  
"I don't know and I don't care. It's late." He did try to escape back inside.  
  
She grabbed his robes by the collar.  
  
"We could go for a walk by the river side!"  
  
"You and the river side."  
  
"Come on!"  
  
Sighing, he got up and followed her, still complaining.  
  
"It's getting cold! You should go home and I should go to sleep!"  
  
"You can sleep later!"  
  
They walked in silence for some time. Severus was not used to talking to girls. Not even in Slytherin. Those girls looked at him over the shoulder. He was not prepared to cope with that. It would not cross his mind to talk to a girl out side his house-team. He'd spy on them a lot when they were not looking; Narcissa was a lovely, haughty, blond young witch. The kind of person who was so beautiful it seemed her objective in life was to give pleasure to the lower mortals who looked at her. Lily 'Mudblood' Evans, a Gryffindor, was the other girl to catch his fancy. Not that he would ever admit it to anybody. A secret was only a secret when known by one. He guessed it was her long, red, eye-catching hair, or maybe her green eyes. It couldn't be her brilliant speech that made her so interesting, for he had never spoken to her. He'd never had wanted to really. She was a mudblood and friends with the 'Marauders'. Jen was different. She was younger than he was, so he didn't feel. Inferior? She was also, not a GIRL per se. She was a person, a friend easy to be next.  
  
"How come you know the boys?" Severus asked to break the silence.  
  
"Well. Javier I knew already. Johnny and Beef I met this year, when Javier runaway from the orphanage with them."  
  
"They came from an orphanage? And their parents?"  
  
"Javier's parents died. I don't know about the other boys'."  
  
Severus walked a bit more, while he thought about this information. "You knew his parents?" He asked after some time.  
  
"Yes. My mother knew them better. Javier's parents were immigrants from Spain. Javier was two when they arrived. I heard it was not easy for them. Javier's mother got a job as a maid in the same manor my mother works."  
  
"Is your mother a maid?"  
  
"No. My mother's a cook. A very good cook. She can prepare a banquet like this!" She snapped her fingers.  
  
"What's a maid?"  
  
"You've got to be kidding."  
  
"Hã. Hum. Not really."  
  
"You say you're twelve? I wonder. A maid is someone who cleans the house. Serves at the table. You know."  
  
"Like a house elf?"  
  
"What's a house elf?"  
  
"You see, you don't know everything?"  
  
"What is an house elf?" She demanded an answer.  
  
"It's. My parents maid." He chose to answer.  
  
"You had a maid? I don't believe you!"  
  
"Are you calling me a liar?" Severus felt offended.  
  
"Are you telling me you're rich? Why would you runaway from a comfortable home?"  
  
"I didn't say I'm rich. I said my parents have a house.Maid. Which, is the truth. What happened to Javier's parents?"  
  
"Why don't you ask him?"  
  
"Why don't you answer me?"  
  
"Why do you want to know?"  
  
"I want to know you people! But if you don't want me to. I suppose I should just go to sleep." He started to walk faster.  
  
"No. Wait! I. Javier's father was a junkie! He died from a heroine overdose, I heard mother saying that. Don't tell Javier I told you!"  
  
Severus stopped. From what he could grasp, Javier's father had overdosed on some potion. Some stupid move, he guessed.  
  
"And his mother? Did she mess up another potion?"  
  
"What?"  
  
"Did she 'overdosed'. Herself?"  
  
"No. Poor Lupe. She cried herself to death. She was working for all of them. And she was sick when he died, but then she just stopped eating and working, only slept and cried. Until she died."  
  
"Nobody helped her?"  
  
"Mum tried to talk to her. Mrs Thompson, the boss, called a shrink but she closed in on herself, mum said, nobody could talk to her."  
  
"How did Javier end up in an orphanage?"  
  
"When his mother died, Social Services put him there. He hated to be in the orphanage."  
  
Severus wondered what Social Services could be.  
  
"Didn't he have any relatives in Spain?"  
  
"I don't know. I suppose not, or he would have been sent to them."  
  
"I guess."  
  
"And then, he ran away from the orphanage with Johnny and Beef; Johnny never met his parents and Beef was abandoned when he was four. I don't think they would have run if Javier hadn't incited them to do it."  
  
Severus stopped and looked at the girl with a shy smile.  
  
"And you? Why do you leave your house this late at night? Why do you steal food from home, to give to a group of beggars?"  
  
Jen presented him with a happy smile.  
  
"I like you guys! You're my friends! Javier is a pain in the arse sometimes but he's bold. You know. He's like a hero! Little Johnny is like a small brother and Beef. Is Beef!"  
  
"And you are a nice person." Severus delivered the compliment without thinking.  
  
"Thank you. And you?"  
  
"I'm not sure I'm a nice person."  
  
Jen giggled;  
  
"You're so silly! I was asking about you. Why did you runaway?"  
  
"Hum. I don't want to talk about it."  
  
"How come? You just 'snooped' about the other Marauders."  
  
"Yeah. But. I don't want to talk about it."  
  
"You never talk about yourself!"  
  
Severus kept walking in silence.  
  
"Did your parents die?" Jen pressed.  
  
"No." He answered through gritted teeth.  
  
"Did they beat you?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Are you telling the truth?"  
  
"Yes Jen. I'm telling the truth."  
  
"Why did you run, then?"  
  
"You wouldn't understand."  
  
"I'm really smart. Try me."  
  
Severus shifted his weight from one foot to the other, nervously.  
  
"Well."  
  
"Go on!"  
  
"My parents don't like me!" He blurted. "My mother is sorry she gave birth to me. Because she thinks, I'm too much like my father. My father doesn't even remember I exist."  
  
"Oh."  
  
"I'm not sure they miss me."  
  
"They must surely do!"  
  
"Don't be so sure."  
  
"That's sad."  
  
"Yes.But then again, I'm having fun with you guys. You're much better than the other kids I used to know."  
  
"Don't you miss your friends?"  
  
"You're my friends. You and the other guys. I don't miss anybody." He lied. "Only maybe school. I already missed the beginning of school year."  
  
"You're all missing school. It's almost October. Maybe you should return home."  
  
"I don't want to. And even if I did, I don't know how."  
  
"You don't know your way back?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Poor Pup."  
  
"NO! I don't want to go back! So, don't feel sorry for me! Come on, you have school tomorrow. I'll keep you company to your house."  
  
"Do you know your way back?"  
  
"To 'Card Manor'? Of course! I'm really learning my way around now."  
  
When they arrived at Jen's door, she asked;  
  
"Will you tell me more about you when you get to trust me?"  
  
This took Severus by surprise.  
  
"Trust?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"This is so complicated." He couldn't help showing his vulnerability in his voice.  
  
"You'll have to trust someone, sometime." Said Jen. "I hope you'll trust me" She squeezed his hand before entering the door. "Good night."  
  
Severus watched her close the door. Then, feeling a lump in his throat, he returned to 'Card Manor'. 


	6. Trouble!

Disclaimer: I don't own Severus Snape even if I wish I did. I don't own any of Rowlings' characters even if I wish I did. Wishes come for free. I own my runaways and the characters' family though. I hope you like them as much as I like.  
  
Thank you to those how have been reviewing. You warm my heart.  
  
  
  
  
  
Trouble  
  
  
  
"We can buy fish and chips!" Stated Beef, happily.  
  
"We never ate so much as these days." Agreed Johnny.  
  
"Nor worked so little" Added Beef. " Pup, you're a stealing machine!"  
  
"Thank you!" Severus laughed, proud on his capacities. It was true. From the first pockets he had picked, he'd ventured a little more everyday, improving his sleight of hand and turning to other goods. His last achievement had been stealing good, warm, hand picked clothes for all his Marauders. They would stroll through stores and the boys only had to pick the clothes they liked.  
  
Lately, Severus was dressing like a rich muggle kid. When people looked at the marauders, they only saw these wealthy children, probably on a walk with their parents, who couldn't possibly be too far away.  
  
Javier was still the named leader, but Severus couldn't help but think about the group as 'his' Marauders. It was as if things had turned out the way they should have always been.  
  
Now, he was not only a Marauder. He was their provider. He would have died for them, and felt they would never let him down.  
  
They were still sleeping at 'Card Manor'. Where else would they be? Who would rent a flat to four kids, with no adult guidance and doubtful income? Or a room, for that matter?  
  
November had arrived, bringing snow with it.  
  
They had to make shifts at night to keep the fire up, since their body heat was not was not enough to help them from freezing.  
  
When they could, they would sneak onto some building stairs, but that was only good on rainy days. They couldn't light a fire inside.  
  
The marauders had no knowledge that, when any of them fall asleep on his guarding shift, Severus would notice and keep them magically warm. He'd never disturb the sleepy boy's rest.  
  
Severus had never been a sound sleeper. Maybe it was his vampire heritage. He always kept awake, long after the others were fast asleep and didn't seem to miss his resting hours much.  
  
They had not seen Jen in the last month. Their implicit agreement at not telling the girl about their illicit activities was being kept on. Their new clothes and recent fleshy cheeks would have to be explained, so they just avoided her.  
  
They had left her waiting for them for hours at 'Card Manor', without showing up. It was the general opinion this was for her own good.  
  
The snow had paused falling and the three boys were chasing each other with companionship. They were bringing fish and chips wrapped in paper for them and Javier, who was not with them.  
  
"You prick! Be careful!" Complained Beef good-naturedly when Johnny pushed him. "I might drop the food."  
  
"Now THAT would have been a tragedy." Answered the younger boy.  
  
"Well. It's a sin, the wasting of food."  
  
"And it is because you're such a GOOD boy, you'd never EVER waste food." Teased Johnny.  
  
"That's for sure." Agreed Severus. " Beef here won't waste a crumb."  
  
"Hey! Stop it!"  
  
"AND we've been proving lately." Severus added louder, quickly, dripping sarcasm. ". Jen was wrong about Beef!"  
  
"How come?" Asked Johnny. "He is a greedy glutton."  
  
"Not that!" Laughed Severus "He doesn't have a tapeworm. He certainly, is getting fat."  
  
"Look who's talking!" Beef shouted. " You'll have to steal new clothes soon!"  
  
"Maybe. For you."  
  
Johnny was laughing wildly and jumping ahead of the two older bickering boys. Then, with a gasp, he stopped in his tracks staring ahead.  
  
"What is it?" Asked Beef.  
  
"There." The younger boy pointed. "That's Javier. He's talking with that dealer. The 'Fairy' guy."  
  
"Don't let him catch you calling him queer." Warned Beef.  
  
"Who's he?" Asked Severus.  
  
"He's a drug dealer."  
  
"A what?"  
  
"Did you climb from under a rock?" Beef snapped impatient. "He's a drug dealer! He sells drugs! He used to sell to Javier's father. What the hell does the Spanish git thinking he's doing talking to him?"  
  
"Oh." Severus recalled when Jen told him about Javier's parents. "That bloke sold him the potion. drug. that he overdosed himself?"  
  
"You talk funny, you know?" Asked Johnny.  
  
"I know. Was he?"  
  
"Probably. Javier! Javier!!!" Beef waved his arms. "Come here!"  
  
Javier noticed the group and left the man he was talking with.  
  
He didn't seem pleased.  
  
"What the hell did you think you were doing?" He asked Beef through gritted teeth.  
  
"What the hell do YOU think you're doing?" The boy stood his ground. Talking to that 'fairy' guy! What do you want with a drug dealer?"  
  
"It's none of your business!"  
  
"Yes it's our business!" Pressed Johnny. "We're the Marauders! We're not about to let you start taking drugs!"  
  
"I'm not taking drugs."  
  
"Then why were you talking to that."  
  
"IT IS NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS!" Javier screamed. "WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? CABRON? DON'T THINK YOU CAN SNOOP IN MY LIFE!"  
  
That shut the boys up all right.  
  
The silence grew tense and uncomfortable. The older boy's face changed progressively from raged, to confused, lost and finally repentant  
  
"I'm sorry." He said. "I didn't mean to say that." He tried to touch Beef's shoulder but the boy shrugged him off. "You know me." Javier tried once more." My temper. But I didn't mean. I swear I'm not taking drugs. I didn't mean to yell."  
  
Beef put the food wrapping on the older boy's arms.  
  
"You can eat. I lost my appetite."  
  
He turned his back on them, and ran.  
  
"Beef!" Johnny called, but the boy turned the corner without looking back.  
  
The others kept silence. They ate the food, but did not appreciate it. It felt like it had lost its flavour.  
  
When night came, Javier left 'Card Manor' saying he would look after Beef, who had not arrived at that point.  
  
Johnny was fighting his tears. Severus offered to watch the fire at first shift. As soon as the boy cried himself to sleep, the young wizard pulled his wand and whispered;  
  
"Corpus Calidus"  
  
After he performed the warming spell, he saw Johnny abandon his foetal position and change to a cosy, comfortable one.  
  
"Quietem Capere." Severus whispered a sleeping spell that would prevent Johnny to wake up while left alone.  
  
He carefully extinguished the fire before leaving the sleeping child.  
  
Severus needed help. His Marauders needed help and he felt unable to lend a hand.  
  
He ran fast, frustrated, in the cold night. He knew where he was going. He hated himself for it. She was younger than he was. He shouldn't have thrown this burden on her back.  
  
As soon as he stopped at front of Jen's door, he hesitated. It was 9 p.m. Jen's parents were at home. He could smell their dinner's remains and hear to their muffled voices inside.  
  
Severus was almost turning tail. Then he steeled himself to do what he'd come to do. He pressed the plastic button next to the door and rang the bell the way he had seen people doing.  
  
He tried to breath calmly and think about what he'd say if one of Jen's parents open the door. In fact, a man at his forties did come to see who was there.  
  
"Hello! Who are you?" The man asked  
  
"Hum. Hello. I'm. Pup." He winced. "Is Jen at home?"  
  
"She is. Shouldn't you be at home 'Pup'? Where are your parents? Where do you know Jen from?"  
  
"Hum. Mum and Dad are at home. I know Jen from school. We're in the same class." He hoped Jen's dad wouldn't think he looked too old to be at the same class as his ten year old daughter. "I'm having problems with.Maths." He remembered hearing Beef complain that was his most hated subject. "She said she could help me. Is it too late?"  
  
The man smiled and told him to come.  
  
"Come in. I didn't know Jen was that good with maths." He mused. "Jen! Come down! There is a 'pup' for you here!"  
  
For a moment, there came only surprised silence from the up floor. Then, noisy as a hurricane, Jen came down the stairs and stopped in front of Severus.  
  
"Puppy! You're here." She stated, uncertain of what else to say.  
  
"Hum. Yes Jen. Can you help me? With maths please? I don't want to flunk."  
  
"Hum. okay, sure. Can I take him to my room Dad?" She asked matter-of -factly.  
  
"Okay. Did you have your dinner 'Pup'?"  
  
"Yes sir."  
  
"Do your parents know you're here?"  
  
"Yes, I told them sir. I live just a couple of streets away."  
  
"Fine then. Go and study Maths."  
  
The two children climbed the stairs to first floor and tried to be as quiet as possible.  
  
When they were out of Jen's father's eye and ear range, she pulled him inside her room and demanded;  
  
"What do you think you're doing? And why are you guys hiding from me?"  
  
"Look there's no time for."  
  
"AND where did you get these clothes?"  
  
"Jen will you shut up and listen?" Severus felt like climbing the walls and the girl didn't seem in the mood to be sympathetic. She sat on the bed and crossed her arms.  
  
"What has 'your highness' to say to me, 'humble servant'?"  
  
"Shouldn't you open some books? In case your parents come here."  
  
She got up with an impatient grunt and pulled some books from her shelf. Then she opened them over the bed and threw some pencils and pens over them as if they had been left there by chance.  
  
"There! The whole scenario! I'm waiting."  
  
"Javier's in trouble."  
  
"What happened?"  
  
"We saw him today, speaking to a drug dealer."  
  
"What? Is he crazy?"  
  
"Apparently. He said he's not using.Drugs. But then again, what was he doing talking to the guy?"  
  
"Oh God! We have to do something!"  
  
"We do. I'm just not sure what."  
  
"Don't lie. You DO have a plan." She told him.  
  
Severus sat on the bed, observing his expensive shoes.  
  
"I thought. I do have a plan but I'm not certain it's the right thing to do."  
  
"Pup."  
  
"What if he does buy these drugs from the dealer? Can't he use them without overdosing?"  
  
"Pup, sometimes you're so bright and then sometimes, you don't seem to know anything about the world around you."  
  
Severus bit his lower lip.  
  
"Don't you think I know it? Do you think is funny that I seem to have crawled from under a rock like Beef said? I know!"  
  
"Pup."  
  
"Look, I'm NOT stupid and I hate to seem stupid!  
  
"I did not call you stupid."  
  
"I just don't know your ways yet."  
  
"Our ways?"  
  
"yes! I'm not from here." He explained. "My people have different ways and traditions from you Muggles."  
  
"Muggles?"  
  
"You all."  
  
"You mean. your people are like gypsies?"  
  
"Gypsies?"  
  
"I did noticed your funny clothes when we met you."  
  
"My robes."  
  
Yes. I thought it would be rude to mention it then. So are you a gypsy?"  
  
"I don't think so."  
  
"Who are you?"  
  
"Does it matter? Javier's in trouble."  
  
"I know! And you didn't come up with a plan. Since you don't seem to understand this, drugs are addictive. Drugs are this stuff you start smoking or injecting so you get high. But when you continue to use it, it stops working as it used to. So, junkies have to increase drug doses, for it to work as it used to. That's what I learned."  
  
"Humm. High? Can junkies fly?"  
  
This drew a chuckle from the girl.  
  
"No. I'm not really sure what 'high' means. But that's what they want. They'll do anything for a dose. ANYTHING at all."  
  
"It sounds like the Imperio curse."  
  
"What?"  
  
"Look I'm a very good potions student."  
  
"You mention it before. What IS a potion?"  
  
"Potions can be used for everything. As medicine, as cleaning substance, as cosmetic, as a poison. You name it, there is. And if there's not, I'll invent it some day."  
  
Jen was staring at him with a 'gosh' expression.  
  
"Wow."  
  
"Yeah. So, I think these drugs you told me about, are some kind of potion."  
  
"I guess. Some kind of potion. A poisonous one. An addictive one. My parents are always warning me about it. Javier should know it. He knows his father was ruined by it."  
  
"I still have doubts about telling you my plan."  
  
"Throw up!"  
  
"You know."  
  
"I know, I know. Stop talking round it and say it." She demanded.  
  
"The Marauders are only kids." Severus said with a hint of defeat in his voice. "I wanted them to be great!"  
  
"The Marauders are great. When I'm not being shut out!"  
  
"Still children."  
  
"Yes. We're children." Jen agreed.  
  
"They need adult guidance." He hid his face on his arms, crossed over the bed.  
  
Jen was uncertain of Severus' intentions.  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"The other day, you said Social Services took them to the orphanage. Can they take them again?"  
  
"What?"  
  
"Can they?"  
  
"I suppose so. If they knew where to find them."  
  
"Can you tell them?"  
  
"Me?" She jumped.  
  
"Yes! I can't."  
  
"Pup, I'm ten years old! How do you expect."  
  
Severus snarled impatient.  
  
"Can you tell your parents? Just say you found out where Javier is. Say you found him living in some card board boxes with two other kids."  
  
"I'll be grounded for life, just for going to that part of town! And what do you mean 'two'?"  
  
"Two. I'm not going to a muggle orphanage."  
  
"What are you going to do, may I ask?"  
  
"I don't know. Probably I'll just go on doing what I've been doing so far."  
  
"And what's that?"  
  
Severus smiled.  
  
"You don't want to know."  
  
"Yes I do." She assured with a smile equal to his own.  
  
"Trust me. You don't."  
  
"Why should I trust you? You don't trust ME!"  
  
"You DON'T want to know."  
  
"Pup!!!"  
  
"Look, we're not living from thin air and some cookies you bring once in a while."  
  
"I should expect so. Especially since you haven't eat anything from me in these past weeks. And those clothes." She pointed. "You're petty thieves."  
  
"I resent being called 'petty'. All the rest is correct."  
  
"Shame on you."  
  
"Whatever."  
  
They stood in silence, looking at each other, measuring wills, until Jen's mother interrupted them.  
  
"Here are some cookies and hot chocolate." The blond woman offered them. "The cookies were made by me and Jen."  
  
Severus picked the plate.  
  
"Thank you." He was careful not to mention that he knew that already. 


	7. Weasley

DISCLAIMER: Harry Potter characters are J.K.Rowlings propriety. The muggle runaways are mine.  
  
Thank you so much to all the kind reviewers. You make me so happy. This is for all of you.  
  
Weasley  
  
In the next days, Severus was anxious, expecting the Social Services people to drop by them at any moment. He had to be ready to conceal himself at any moment, without calling the adult muggles attention. The other boys were properly unaware of his plans and anxiety.  
  
Beef and Javier had sorted things out between themselves. Beef had returned to 'Card Manor' without a word and tactfully restrain to mention their argument again.  
  
Javier was different with the boys though. He was jumpy at shadows, secretive. Some nights he would leave them without explaining where he was going. Nobody felt like asking anyway.  
  
Still, in spite of Severus' nerves nothing happened.  
  
The days were too bright for his vampire genes. The nights were more comfortable, but both passed without notice from Social Services  
  
************************************************************  
  
Jen was running through the cold dark streets.  
  
She expected to reach the Marauders soon if they didn't hide from her again. She sneaked out of her home after her parents had gone to bed. The girl had stealthily climbed down the stairs and closed the door behind her with such silence it seemed inhuman.  
  
She was good at these tricks and felt proud at her abilities.  
  
Still she didn't see him coming. Didn't hear him arriving. It was as if the man had just walked from the shadows to calmly intercept her.  
  
Jen stopped in her tracks and at once, Javier's warnings about streets dangers jumped inside her mind. 'The streets are dangerous for a girl'. She had teased him then. She didn't feel like teasing now.  
  
She was alone with the stranger in a darkened street. All the shops and even the nearest pub at the end of the street were closed at this late hour.  
  
Jen took one step back.  
  
The man came into the spotlight of the only working streetlight. He was tall and thin. Young, showing a flash of white teeth in an open smile. And he had a mane of red hair with a white ribbon that he wore on his forehead, hippie like.  
  
"Hello little girl!"  
  
She didn't answer and took another step back.  
  
The man was dressed normally. For a hippie. She wondered if he was colour blind wearing an orange shirt with strong green loose trousers.  
  
"Don't be afraid little girl. I'm not going to hurt you. I'm just looking for someone who has been around this place" He fumbled through his trousers' pockets and produced a photograph. "Here. We think this boy might be around here."  
  
Jen took one more step back.  
  
"Just look at the picture please!" Asked the man. "You don't have to come near if you don't want to. Do you have good eyesight?"  
  
Jen looked at the photograph the man was holding out in her direction. Then she stared at it.  
  
"No." She answered half a second later. "I never saw that boy. Can I go now?"  
  
"Yes. that's a pity you know? Everyone's looking for that boy."  
  
That piqued her curiosity and stopped her from running.  
  
"Why?"  
  
"He disappeared. Months ago. His parents are worried. The school year has begun. He'll miss a proper education."  
  
"Are you a relative?"  
  
"No." The red haired man smiled. "Never really seen him. My name's Arthur. I just started on my work this year and so, I know his parents are offering a reward to the person that returns him safe and sound." Jen saw him blushing in the dim light. "I'm sounding quite a mercenary but the money comes in handy." He waited for her reaction and when she nodded, agreeing, he continued. "Everybody has been looking else where. Where he was last seen and such. But I've been investigating and I think he's around here. Or, at least, he has been."  
  
Jen was trying to decide if she was bold and smart enough to question the man without rising suspicion from him.  
  
"What. What if the boy decides to go home?" She tried in an uncompromising tone.  
  
"I guess his parents will be happy."  
  
"No."  
  
"No?"  
  
"What I mean is, what if the boy wanted to go home and couldn't?"  
  
"I would gladly take him home!" Arthur laughed.  
  
Jen realised she wasn't getting where she wanted.  
  
"Yes. You want your reward. Good luck, by the way."  
  
"Thank you. Go home now. A little muggle girl shouldn't be alone in the streets at night."  
  
"I will. "She lied. "I live at the end of the street. There." She pointed a house that wasn't hers. "I hope you find the boy, or else he decides to go home."  
  
"Yeah. The little Slytherin would be better if he returned. I would be even better if I got rich." He added under his breath.  
  
"What if he can't go home?" Jen asked suddenly as if this was an afterthought.  
  
"How come? His parents want him and he hasn't kicked out of school yet. He will if he doesn't return soon."  
  
"What if he wants to go back and can't find his way? He could be anywhere at England right now and be unable to find his way back. He can be lost."  
  
"Well. That's what the Knight Bus is for." He chuckled. "But he would know it. And I'm convinced he's in London."  
  
"Would he? I don't know that Knight Bus. My dad's a bus driver in London and I never heard about a Knight Bus."  
  
Arthur laughed.  
  
"Sure. That is because. They're not London buses."  
  
"So the boy has to be somewhere else to catch that bus? And what if he can't pay? What if he really is somewhere at the country? What if he is working as a shepherd, eating only vegetables and earning not enough to pay the bus? What if he's not being paid at all? Poor thing!" She said this with an innocent face, goggling her blue eyes and almost believing the story she was making up.  
  
Arthur stared at her before answering.  
  
"You have a good imagination."  
  
"Why do you think that boy's here in London? If I ran away from my home" She confided, stepping closer as if forgetting to be careful, but keeping some distance anyway. "I would go to the sea. I'd catch a boat and work there to go around the word."  
  
Arthur smiled, delighted.  
  
"You're a lovely muggle girl. Just wait until you're grown up to see the world. Okay? Now go home. YOUR parents must be worried. You should be in your bed by now."  
  
"Okay."  
  
Arthur Weasley saw the little muggle girl disappear at the corner at the end of the street. He scolded himself for not being more restrained. He hadn't been able to resist chatting with the muggle child. They caught his imagination so. He wanted to speak the same way to an adult, to learn more about their ways.  
  
It took some time before he noticed the girl hadn't told him her name. He hadn't asked either. Never mind. To her he was just a stranger and she would have forgotten about him soon, regarding their talk as something without importance.  
  
Now he had to find the Slytherin boy, if he wanted that reward. The ministry had detected the repetitive, illegal use of magic in this part of muggle London. Many considered it acts of the obscure group called Death Eaters. Arthur was aware they were starting to be a nuisance to the Ministry of Magic, showing up in muggle places and hurting people. They left messages of 'wizard superiority'. He had been called a few times to fix things and change the muggles' memories.  
  
That was why he was convinced these small flashes of magic were not Death eaters' doing. He could be wrong, but there were no major disturbances after the almost unnoticed illegal spells.  
  
Therefore, Arthur had combined his need of money with his curiosity about muggle culture and had come to investigate.  
  
He took one step forward and his boot touch something that made a small 'click' noise on the floor.  
  
The wizard looked down and it caught his curiosity. He bended and grabbed it.  
  
"How interesting." Arthur studied the small object wondering what possible use those holes in it could have. "There are three!"  
  
This was the historical moment Arthur Weasley started his collection of muggle plug sockets  
  
*****************  
  
Hope you liked this chapter. It was a bit shorter. Next chapter is coming soon. 


	8. Confession time

Disclaimer: I own my runaways and relatives. J. K. Rowlings owns the rest.  
  
Thank you to: Stupor; Atheis and Aeris Gainsborough (You're funny!); Alma; Star; Snape girl; Hibob; Kaipee (You'll get your answers in this one); Bluemeannies; Nyarth Kyukon (Thank you so much); Harriet. You can review again. :D I love to read your reviews.  
  
  
  
Confession time  
  
  
  
Severus saw Jen approaching before she noticed him looking outside the card barrack. He jumped swiftly out and ran to her.  
  
"What are you doing here?" He asked her, sounding full of contempt.  
  
"I had to come." She said.  
  
"Be quiet!" Severus whispered. "The others are asleep." He pulled her with him. "Let's have a walk.  
  
She didn't complain and followed him straight away.  
  
"So?" He demanded when he felt the boys would not hear them. "What happened? What was so complicated you couldn't do what I asked you to?"  
  
She shifted her weight from one foot to the other.  
  
"I wasn't able."  
  
"What?"  
  
"I couldn't! I felt like I was betraying the Marauders."  
  
"Don't you be such a liar! You were just afraid to be punished." He sneered.  
  
"It's not true!" Jen screamed.  
  
"It is true too! You said that yourself."  
  
"I'm worried about you guys."  
  
"If you were worried, you would have told your parents! Those kids need help!" Severus spat.  
  
"What about you?" She grumbled as she cleaned the moist in her face.  
  
"What about me? I can take care of myself."  
  
"Sure!"  
  
"You're not helpful for anything." Severus turned his back on her intending to leave.  
  
"No? Well. In that case maybe I shouldn't tell you, your parents are offering a reward to find you." She said in a cold tone.  
  
Severus became paler than his usual complexion.  
  
"You're kidding!"  
  
"Read my lips! I'm. Not!"  
  
"How would you know such a thing?" His voice quivered a bit. His parents would not offer a reward to muggles. He just knew they would not.  
  
Would they?  
  
Jen started to explain.  
  
"There was this bloke who stopped me when I was coming here. He showed me your picture and asked if I had ever seen you."  
  
Severus was not convinced. "How was that picture?"  
  
"Who cares?"  
  
"I care!" He screamed.  
  
"It was you!"  
  
"Did the picture move?"  
  
"Are you crazy? Of course not!"  
  
"Then you're lying."  
  
"I'm not, you stupid! I'm warning you!"  
  
It was the urgency in Jen's voice that made Severus believe her even though he didn't want to.  
  
"How was that picture?" He asked again.  
  
"I told you! It was you! Dressed in black with a green and white collar, with a green and white tie."  
  
"Silver." He corrected in a thoughtful tone.  
  
"What now?"  
  
"Green and silver. Slytherin colours."  
  
"Slytherin." She had heard this before.  
  
"My house team. At school."  
  
"So. You believe me now?"  
  
"I guess."  
  
"How come this man knows you're around here? 'Cause he's pretty convinced you are."  
  
Severus walked in silence for some time. It seamed his escapade was dangerously coming to an end. He looked at the girl who was keeping pace with him, watching him with those big, honest, blue eyes.  
  
"Magic!" He said before he lost courage.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Magic. He located me because I was careless. With magic. I'm a wizard." He winced.  
  
She put her hands on her hips in a defiant stance.  
  
"Look! I was eleven last week! I'm not a baby and I'm not stupid! Tell me another one."  
  
Severus narrowed his eyes.  
  
"I shouldn't tell you this. I wasn't intending to tell any muggle about this. In fact I'm just trusting you'll keep this a secret." He bared his teeth. "Otherwise, being grounded for life is going to seem a treat compared to what I'll make you go through."  
  
"Are you threatening me?"  
  
"Hum. Yes I am."  
  
"Go to hell!"  
  
"Look. I told you before my people are different from yours."  
  
"Muggle."  
  
"Humm?"  
  
"The bloke. He called me 'muggle girl'. Like you did."  
  
"Because he's a wizard. And you are a muggle."  
  
"That's impossible! There is no magic!"  
  
"Yes there is."  
  
"Prove it."  
  
Severus looked ashamed.  
  
"I can't."  
  
"I see."  
  
"No you don't. Look. I'm a minor. I'm not allowed to do magic outside my school. Only adults are. If I was at home and performed a spell, the ministry of magic would send me an instant message threatening to get me expelled from school, for the crime of practicing illegal magic."  
  
"That's so stupid!"  
  
"Whatever! I've been using magic all over London. To help me steal and stuff. The ministry must have noticed my spells. Must have traced me."  
  
"How come you weren't caught, then?" She grudgingly admitted curiosity.  
  
"I'm not sure." He admitted. "Maybe because I'm not at home, where I could easily be identified as the one doing the spell. Maybe because we're not in the same place long. But he knows I'm in London."  
  
"I tried to convince him you could be anywhere in England."  
  
"Did he buy it?"  
  
"Didn't look like it."  
  
"He wouldn't. I've been in London since I run away."  
  
"What happens if he catches you?"  
  
"I don't know." He bit his lower lip. "My father can't be too pleased with me."  
  
"He said your parents are worried."  
  
"I can just imagine." He said in solid sarcasm.  
  
"Why don't you return before he catches you? Maybe you could avoid trouble that way."  
  
"Sometimes you're a drag. I told you I don't know my way back. Even if I wanted to go back."  
  
"Take the 'Knight Bus'."  
  
"Come again?" He looked at her surprised.  
  
"Take the."  
  
"I heard you. 'The Knight Bus'." He mused.  
  
"You know of it? I don't know where the station is. But we could find it."  
  
"There is no station. Merlin!!! Some times, I surprise myself with my stupidity!" He showed her a crooked smile.  
  
"I won't comment."  
  
"You're so very kind. The 'Knight Bus'."  
  
"So. You don't want to go home?" She teased. "That's the reason you're so excited you can go now?"  
  
"I'm not excited. At least no more than I was about bashing you for not telling your parents about Javier."  
  
"Here we go again. That's unfair." She complained.  
  
"Letting Javier free to kill himself seems more unfair to me."  
  
"Sometimes, I'd like to punch you!"  
  
"You and which army?"  
  
"You cheeky one! Is that what you're learning with Javier? To be a sarcastic cheeky bastard?"  
  
"Actually." He acted smug. "I was a sarcastic cheeky bastard already. Just don't spread it around, right?"  
  
Jen had to chuckle. She put her arm around his neck in a bear hug.  
  
"I won't. Especially because you're going home now. To carry on with your life."  
  
"Says who?"  
  
"Me."  
  
Severus looked meaningfully at Jen.  
  
"You're not." She put it in words.  
  
"Not if I can help it."  
  
"Why not?!?!?!?"  
  
Severus produced his wand from inside his sleeve.  
  
"Look." He showed it.  
  
"That's a stick." She said uninterested.  
  
"That's NOT a stick." He said impatiently as if she was a dimwit.  
  
"Of course not." She answered matter-of-factly. "That's a magic wand!"  
  
"Yes, stupid girl! It's a wand."  
  
"Take that back!!" She yelled.  
  
"It IS a wand!"  
  
"You called me stupid!! I'm standing here, trying not to say you're crazy, and you just called ME stupid!"  
  
Severus bit his lip and gave credit to her feelings.  
  
"Right. I'm sorry. I was rude. I'm nervous. I wasn't intending to tell you or any other muggle about the magical world or me. Ever."  
  
"Well, you shouldn't. Who would believe you?"  
  
"So you don't believe me."  
  
"I'm not convinced."  
  
"In that case you'll never understand why I'm not eager to go home."  
  
"You can tell me anyway. I'm your friend. I'll listen to you."  
  
But not believe him. Severus understood. He smiled ready to shock her.  
  
"My ancestors were vampires."  
  
Jen, to her credit, did try to keep a straight face for about two seconds. After that, that she failed completed and stared to laugh heartily.  
  
"And I was worried." Severus muttered. ".She could get scared."  
  
The girl had to sit on the floor.  
  
"Oh God!"  
  
"Jennifer."  
  
"Show me your teeth!" She demanded between chuckles.  
  
With a shrug, Severus bared his teeth.  
  
"I can't spot any specially big fangs." She informed him.  
  
"No. But my teeth are a bit pointed."  
  
"Your teeth ARE a bit crooked. Don't wizards have a dental plan?"  
  
"You're impossible. Anyway, I said my ancestors were vampires. I have human blood. So does my father and grand father. I'm not sure if my great grand father was a pure blooded vampire though."  
  
"Can you hear your self talking?"  
  
"Girl, if you keep teasing me, I'll leave you alone in here."  
  
She just couldn't stop chuckling but kept her mouth shut.  
  
"Problem is." Severus continued. ".Vampires are not popular in the wizarding world."  
  
"Nor in here either."  
  
"No one would say that, by your reaction."  
  
"That's just 'positive' me." She chuckled again.  
  
"A pity my mother isn't that positive." He sighed.  
  
This had the effect of sobering Jen up, immediately.  
  
"Your mother?"  
  
"She hates me." Severus sat beside Jen on the road.  
  
"She's your mother."  
  
"She said to this friend of her, she wished she hadn't gave birth to a vampire kindred son. She said she wishes I had never been born." He kept his voice devoid of emotion but Jen could see his fists were clutched tight "She told this to James Potter's mother, of all people."  
  
"How do you know?"  
  
"I was eavesdropping." He admitted shamelessly. "Now everybody at Hogwarts must know."  
  
"Was it a secret?"  
  
"What do you think?"  
  
Jen thought for a while and then nudged Severus on the ribs.  
  
"If I give you a hug to comfort you." She gave a wicked smile. ". Do you promise not to bite me?"  
  
"Jennifer!"  
  
She smiled apologetically and put an arm around his shoulders.  
  
"Look. That bloke Arthur said your parents ARE worried with you. He said you're missing school. I'm sure you'll have no problems."  
  
Severus smiled.  
  
"Sometimes, you're way too optimistic you know."  
  
"I try."  
  
They got up and started to walk once more.  
  
"The thing is." Severus said in a final tone. "I'm not going back to find out."  
  
"You never struck me as a coward." She needled him.  
  
"If I was an unthinking bold idiot, my house team would have been Gryffindor. Merlin forbids." He shivered.  
  
"Weird name."  
  
"Yup."  
  
"Your house is. Slithering?"  
  
"Slytherin. The house of the interesting thinking people."  
  
"Yes, you're modest!"  
  
"Shut up."  
  
"OH MY GOD!!!!" Jen screamed terrified.  
  
"Now what?" Severus reacted to her fright and looked at the point she was staring. "Merlin! The prick!"  
  
Jen had noticed a figure climbing the brick wall and recognized it as Javier, opening a window at the second floor.  
  
"Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God!" The girl was clutching both hands nervously, jumping on the same spot as if connected to an electric plug.  
  
"What does he thinks he's doing?" Severus whispered fascinated. Javier was balancing his weight on his arms and toes. He had just managed to open the window in this precarious position. Severus couldn't help but be impressed at the other boy's physical capacities. That he was capable of sustain his weight on his strained toes over such small crevices on the brick wall was nothing short of amazing. The Spanish boy was doing it on muscle strength and sheer will. Without magic. "The bloody jerk must have left 'Card Manor' after we got away." He said with some envy. "If he was a wizard he would be amazing!"  
  
"That's just what I need now!" Jen snapped. "The Spanish idiot trying to kill himself and the vampire idiot getting impressed about it."  
  
"What does he want there?" Severus ignored her. "Do you know what is there in that building?"  
  
"No." She answered in a small voice.  
  
In the moment Javier was about to get inside the window a light was switched on inside the room.  
  
The surprise proved too much to the Spanish boy who lost his balance and started to fall.  
  
Jen was too scared to scream and stood frozen as a statue.  
  
Severus was too scared to think and acted on impulse.  
  
"Wingardum Leviosa!" He pointed his wand at the falling boy who kept going down, but this time much slower and gently until he landed in a big rubbish bin.  
  
"That. That. Was incredible!" Jen said on the verge of hysteria.  
  
"Hurry!" Screamed Severus "Get inside the bin!"  
  
"Come again?"  
  
"NOW!"  
  
Severus was not an overly strong child but desperation gave him the strength to lift the girl in his arms and to throw her inside the trash container without other argument. With the same rush of adrenaline, he climbed and followed her, hiding inside.  
  
And not a moment too soon.  
  
As Severus clamped a hand over Javier's mouth and made an angry gesture for Jen to keep quiet, he felt, more than saw, the man aparating at the street. He prayed not to be discovered as he heard the man calling aloud;  
  
"Severus Snape! Show your self! I know you're here!"  
  
  
  
  
  
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This was one of the chapters I enjoyed the most while writing. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Next chapter is coming soon. Don't forget to review please All my love Aliera 


	9. Worse and worse!

Disclaimer: Severus and Arthur Weasley are Rowlings'. The runaways are mine.  
  
Thanks to: Green Eyed Lady (Jobey! Sorry with that 'lobey'); Piri Lupin- Snape; Kaypee; N; and of course: Atheis and Aeris Gainsborough. You make my day.  
  
This story is getting darker. I hope you'll keep liking it though.  
  
  
  
Worse and worse  
  
  
  
"Severus Snape! Show yourself!" Arthur Weasley was shouting.  
  
Severus was inside the rubbish bin praying in silence that the man wouldn't find him.  
  
Crouching beside him, Jen didn't dare to breathe.  
  
Javier was not allowed to breathe. Severus' hand was firmly covering his mouth and nose to stop him from speaking. Besides, the Spanish boy was too stunned to react.  
  
"I know you're here!" The man was still calling. "Show yourself! I'll take you home!"  
  
Severus could feel beads of sweat running at his forehead and back. Could feel his body temperature shifting from hot to cold and hot again. His heart was hammering at his throat with such force, he wondered if the wizard could hear it.  
  
"I'm warning you! I'll find you!"  
  
Javier was starting to squirm. Severus held him tighter.  
  
"Snape! Okay. As you wish!"  
  
Severus could easily imagine the wizard puling his wand out of his sleeve and beginning a direction spell.  
  
That was when a head peeked outside the same window Javier had tried to break in.  
  
"Who's there?" He yelled.  
  
The wizard grumbled a mild curse and disaparated.  
  
"Who is yelling at this hour?" The man shouted, not caring about his own behaviour. He missed the wizard but spotted the children inside the rubbish bin, straight away.  
  
"There you are! Fucking brats! I'll teach you to wake people up!" He head disappeared inside.  
  
Javier seemed to return to life. He fought against Severus' grip. "Run!!!!!!!!!" He screamed as he freed himself and flew out of the bin.  
  
Jen didn't need another incentive and jumped right after him.  
  
Severus raised himself from the garbage and hesitantly surveyed the street, expecting to find the red headed wizard.  
  
As he jumped out, Javier returned, grabbed his arm and pulled him.  
  
"I said 'run'!"  
  
On the way out of the street, they passed the door of the building. The fat man was just running out of it. In spite of his claim to have been woken up, he was fully dressed, wearing a suit. He launched himself in the children direction and tried to grab Severus.  
  
The boy was just able to avoid him but Severus was close enough to see the white in the man's eyes and more easily, the flashy, open shirt, showing a fat, hairy chest and a thick gold necklace.  
  
They were running as fast as they could. They could hear the man's footsteps after them but wasted no time looking back.  
  
After some distance, their ages and weight difference decided the contest and they were able to lose him.  
  
They stopped and leaned against a wall to catch their breaths.  
  
"Do you think he took a good look at us?" Asked Javier peeking around a corner; to be certain they were safe.  
  
"I don't know." Answered Severus when he found he could breathe and talk at the same time. Having reached this achievement he shouted: "What the hell, did you think you were bloody doing? You Prick!!! Do you have a death wish?"  
  
He was about to proceed with this speech when he noticed the glares his friends were giving him.  
  
"Guappo. What was that?" Asked Javier in awe.  
  
Severus was thinking of a way to dodge the question but Jen answered simply;  
  
"He's a Vampire-wizard."  
  
"Thanks a lot Jen!!!" Severus jumped.  
  
"You are! I believe you now." She said in an adoring tone.  
  
"Oh bother! What did I tell you about being grounded for life and such? Can't you keep a secret?"  
  
"Vampire?" Asked a confused Javier. "I don't understand."  
  
Jen blew the air between her teeth, impatiently.  
  
"Don't you know what a vampire is, dumbie?" She adopted a challenging stance.  
  
"Shut up girl! Of course, I know what a vam. This is nonsense."  
  
Severus tried to change the subject.  
  
"Nonsense is when YOU go climbing walls and crawling into other peoples windows!" He accused.  
  
"What about your hocus-pocus? " Javier stood his ground.  
  
"Forget that!" He snapped. "This is serious! What were you hoping to accomplish?"  
  
"I won't forget it! How do you expect me to forget I floated in the air?"  
  
"He did it!" Jen pointed Severus in excited eagerness. "I saw. It was incredible! He took his wand out of his."  
  
"Jennifer, would you PLEASE shut up?" He growled. "For Merlin sake!" He continued under his breath. "I'd put her under a binding spell if knew I wouldn't be caught."  
  
"Whatever you want." She singed, teasing.  
  
"Don't tempt me."  
  
"What's a wand?" Asked Javier, lost this time.  
  
Jen promptly 'forgot' to be in silence;  
  
"It's a magic stick!" She explained, confident. "It's used to do spells."  
  
"Spoken like a scholar." Severus dripped all his sarcasm.  
  
"Well, isn't it?"  
  
"I'll never speak to you again." He stated.  
  
"Of course you will!"  
  
Severus opened his eyes threateningly and said in his soft voice;  
  
"Try me."  
  
"Sorry." She said in a meekly tone.  
  
"Can you do it again?" Requested Javier with a smile. "Getting me to float again?" Apparently, the Spanish boy wasn't interested in pursuing a discussion at why neither wizards nor vampires were supposed to exist. He seemed satisfied with what proof he had.  
  
"Come again?" Severus felt surprised at the older boy's request.  
  
"Can you make me float on the air?"  
  
"Just out of curiosity. Why?" The wizard boy demanded with a sneer.  
  
"I would find it easier to be lifted to that window, instead of having to climb it again."  
  
"You're insane." Severus informed him.  
  
"I think I'm resourceful." Javier smiled. "Can you do it?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"Why the hell do you want to get inside that house?" Severus asked annoyed.  
  
Javier thought for a moment. He seemed to be trying to decide if he should confide in the two children in front of him.  
  
"I've been investigating." He said. "I'm pretty certain they hide the stuff there.  
  
"Stuff?"  
  
"Drugs." Jen translated. Then she turned to Javier. "Are you out of your mind?"  
  
"Shut up, girl!"  
  
"You might as well shut up with the chauvinistic speech!" Severus cut in. He didn't wish to watch another Jen/Javier's confrontation.  
  
"Chauvinistic! You talk nicely"  
  
"I do talk nicely." He answered to the tease. "And look who's talking, 'Mr. Resourceful."  
  
"Severus studies in this wizard's boarding school."  
  
"Jennifer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"  
  
"What? He accepted so well the wizard AND vampire parts! Why do you think he'll be shocked about a boarding school?" She was all mock innocence.  
  
"Will you stop publicizing my life!" Yelled Severus. "And you." He told to Javier. "Are you indeed trying to get yourself killed? Just tell me, because I would rather not watch."  
  
"I just need to be sure!" Pleaded Javier. "After I get solid proof, I'll try to warn the police."  
  
Jen was watching him closely.  
  
"I can ALWAYS tell when you're lying."  
  
"I'm not lying!"  
  
"You're not telling the truth."  
  
"What do you care?"  
  
"I do care, you twit." She stated.  
  
"Javier." Severus cut into their discussion once more. "What are you up to?"  
  
"Why do you care?" Javier pouted. "You have the means to help me, but you won't."  
  
"Javier, we're your friends."  
  
"Some friends!"  
  
"I just saved your life!" Severus was finding Javier's attitude very ungrateful.  
  
"But you won't do it again!" He pointed an accusatory finger at Severus' nose.  
  
Severus was lost for words for a moment. Then he breathed deeply to calm himself and tried another approach.  
  
"You heard that bloke on that street. He's a wizard. He's after me. He'll catch me if I do another spell." He spoke, dead serious. "He'll be able to track me if I put a foot wrong. I was plain, bloody lucky this time."  
  
"What does that bloke want with you?"  
  
"It seems my parents are offering a reward to the one who brings me back."  
  
"Just to take you back."  
  
"Yes. I mean, I don't think my parents would put a price on my head."  
  
"How do you know? I didn't know my father was a. Junkie." Javier said looking at the ground. "Yet, he was."  
  
"Don't freak me out! I just needed to hear this."  
  
"Well."  
  
"Shut your bloody gob, Javier!" Said Jen. "Your parents want you alive and healthy, Pup. You know your parents, for crying out loud!"  
  
"I know them." He swallowed.  
  
"Do you think." Javier was musing. ".They would pay me if I return you to them?"  
  
"NO! Don't you even think about it!"  
  
"There's no need to be so touchy." The Spanish boy raised his hands in a conciliatory gesture.  
  
"Well, stop it!"  
  
"It was just a thought. The money would come in handy."  
  
"Javier."  
  
"I mean, you'd just go home and I'd get a reward."  
  
"Just before that idea consumes you, my parents don't have English currency!"  
  
Javier thought about it for a second.  
  
"That's what banks are for."  
  
Jen interrupted.  
  
"You're fourteen. Do you think you could get inside a bank with a fortune, and they'd just trade it for you? Without questions?"  
  
Javier sighed.  
  
"Okay, you win. So I won't get easily rich."  
  
Severus felt relieved to have been spared explaining wizard money and culture.  
  
".But!" Continued Javier without missing a beat. "In that case, you have to help me to get inside that house."  
  
"Damn." Severus felt his soul dropping to his feet.  
  
"They keep the heroin there."  
  
"Javier, stop it!" Screamed Jen." Promise me you'll stop!"  
  
"Stop what?" He asked impatiently.  
  
"Don't go there. Don't look for trouble! Please!"  
  
"OH, shut up!"  
  
"She's right! What do you care if they have drugs there? It's none of your business."  
  
"I Want to be sure."  
  
"Why!?!?!?!"  
  
"I want to denounce them! I want to put them in JAIL! And that's not all they deserve. They should DIE!  
  
The others were mute.  
  
"So." Javier snarled. "They should count themselves lucky that I stick with Jail."  
  
Severus and Jen looked at each other asking for mutual support.  
  
"Yeah." Muttered Jen. "I'm sure they feel lucky."  
  
"Javier, do you realise, you're risking your life and might not get anything for it?"  
  
"Yes I do. I'm still doing it. And there's nothing you can say to stop me. This is MY life I'm risking."  
  
"It's Pup's life too." Cut Jen. "You're asking him to help you in this wild scheme. He might get killed."  
  
"Or worse." Said Severus. "I might get caught."  
  
"I see." The Ice in Javier's voice would have frozen the Thames. "You WONT help me."  
  
"That's not it!"  
  
"Will you lift me there?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Don't worry then." He turned his back on them and left, running.  
  
Severus turned to Jen. His black eyes were burning with rage.  
  
"We wouldn't have had this talk if you had done what I told you to!"  
  
"Stop it!" She pleaded.  
  
"It's your fault!" He accused.  
  
Jen put her hands over her ears.  
  
"Don't talk to me that way!" Tears started to fall from her eyes.  
  
"Go away!"  
  
"You bet I will!" Her voice quivering, Jen left him.  
  
Severus saw her cross the corner and, cursing the whole situation decided to follow her.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Hope you enjoyed this. Tell me what you think. Next chapter is coming soon. Hugs Aliera 


	10. Javier

Disclaimer: Rowlings is great and created Severus Snape. I wish I had done it, but she obviously came first. As I love the character, thank you for making him this way.  
  
I own my runaways. Even, when I don't take good care of them. Still, I love them and hope you enjoy reading this. This chapter hurt to write and this is NOT a cliché.  
  
My thanks to Megan Potter the Chaser (I hope you keep liking.); Queen Shirley (The same.); Atheis and Aeris Gainsborough (yes, I do love you, what can I say). And of course, thank you to Nyarth Kyukon, my wonderful beta reader.  
  
  
  
This is for you  
  
  
  
Javier  
  
  
  
"I'll say this only once!" Severus yelled at Jen's back. "I'm sorry."  
  
"Go to hell!" She screamed, never turning and never halting.  
  
Severus could hear her crying.  
  
"Jennifer, Stop!"  
  
"Go to hell!"  
  
"I'll let you go away!"  
  
"Go to hell!"  
  
"I apologise!"  
  
"Go to."  
  
"I won't go anywhere!" He cut in and grabbed her by the shoulders.  
  
"I don't want to speak to you!" She screamed back.  
  
"I know."  
  
She leaned on his shirt and cried into it.  
  
"Hey!" Severus instinct was to push her away, but he willed himself to stay put. "Jen, please stop crying. Jen!! Don't blow your nose on me!"  
  
"I'm not blowing my nose!" She complained annoyed.  
  
"Good girl."  
  
"Git."  
  
"Are you feeling better?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Me, neither."  
  
"You're right." She kept crying with the front of his shirt clutched in her hands. "It's all my fault."  
  
"There is no use."  
  
"I should have told."  
  
"You should have. Now is too late though."  
  
She paused crying and raised her head, to look at Severus with red-rimed eyes.  
  
"Maybe not."  
  
"What do you mean? I can't watch Javier all the time."  
  
"I'm going to talk with my parents."  
  
"Now? Do you know what time is it? You'll get yourself in a boarding school for this one."  
  
"Maybe reform school, even. I guess I deserve it."  
  
"Miss 'Positive' is showing a dramatic streak, I see." Severus pointed.  
  
"Aren't we all?"  
  
"Point taken. I'll take you home. Wait for the morning to speak with your parents. I don't think they'll feel like helping now."  
  
"What about Javier?"  
  
"I'll look after him, when I see you back at home."  
  
"You're a true gentleman." She said, drying her tears at his shirt.  
  
"You'll ruin my reputation."  
  
"We don't want that." She teased.  
  
"Of course not."  
  
They were quiet after that and went all the way to Jen's home in silence. There were no spoken farewells. They hardly looked at each other and Jen opened the door with as much noise as she had done when leaving.  
  
Severus saw her closing it and waited some minutes to be sure she had gone to bed unnoticed by her parents. No light in the house was switched on, and after some time, he willed himself to relax. He walked to 'Card Manor' hopping to find Javier, sullen but safe, inside.  
  
He got his wish. Javier was there and was mad at him.  
  
"Don't you even think about it, you hijo puta!"  
  
Severus froze where he was. "What?"  
  
"You won't get inside."  
  
"But. Javier!!!"  
  
"Get out of my sight, capulho!"  
  
Johnny and Beef were awoken by his shouts  
  
"What's the matter?" Asked Beef.  
  
"It's none of your business." Snapped Javier. "Go to sleep."  
  
"We WERE sleeping!" Complained Johnny. "You woke us up!"  
  
"Shut up, gillipolhas!"  
  
"You're the one who's shouting!"  
  
"Shut up!" Javier threatened Johnny with a fist. The younger boy closed his mouth, but Beef asked again;  
  
"What IS going on?"  
  
"Javier is kicking me out." Severus informed them in a soft voice.  
  
"How come?" Beef asked Javier.  
  
"None of you business! And you." He pointed Severus. ".Can drop dead! You're trying to divide us!"  
  
"I'm not. And you're still kicking me out."  
  
"And I'll start kicking you, if you don't get the fuck out of here!"  
  
Severus had been trying to keep a cool head, but this threat ruined his efforts.  
  
"You just try!" He was shorter than Javier, but he still grabbed him by his collar. "What do you think I'll do to you then?! I had a lousy night! I just had to save your bloody arse and almost got caught for it! And do you care? No!! I was almost grabbed by a furious drug dealer because of you! And do you care? NO!! He saw you at his window! And they've seen you snooping around them, everywhere! No mistake there! And I almost stopped talking to my best friend because of you! You fucking prick!" He shoved the older boy. "We've been all worried sick because of you! You bastard! Do you care? NO!!" Severus pushed Javier against the cardboard boxes, destroying their refuge. "Well YOU can drop dead, for all I care!" He roared.  
  
"Go away!" Screamed Javier.  
  
In the mist of his rage Severus could see the goggled eyes of the boys. They were scared. What was worst, they were scared of him. They were looking at him as if they didn't know him and he was the scariest thing they had ever seen.  
  
He wanted to calm down and say he was just their friend. Just Pup. He wanted to go back in time and get his friends back. But he was so angry, he could hardly breath. He couldn't talk now.  
  
"Go away!" Javier screamed again, in a mesh of rage and fear.  
  
Severus growled and moved away into the cold night.  
  
They would get cold too. He knew it. He wasn't there to do a heating spell. He'd never do it again and they might freeze, for all he cared. They had never noticed his help, anyway. He had never let them notice any thing out of the ordinary.  
  
Severus stopped.  
  
He didn't want them to die. They were family, if anyone was. As he inhaled deeply, he noticed he hadn't been breathing at all for some minutes. He didn't know he could do that.  
  
What weird thing am I? Severus thought in despair.  
  
He noticed his reflection in a glass window; His eyes were blood shot, with stark, black, angry irises. He was paler than ever. So pale he was almost transparent and could see his veins under the skin, at his forehead and over his nose and chin. It went hideously with his black hair. He WAS hideous. It was scary.  
  
Severus swallowed. He could have run away again in that moment. He didn't have the guts to show his face to his Marauders again.  
  
Severus started to laugh wildly, with no humour, knowing he was on the verge of hysterics. 'His Marauders'!  
  
Not his anymore. Not after them seeing him this way. He sat on the floor, his mind burning with thoughts. What would he do? Where would he go? How could he make things right? Most important; how could things change so drastically? How could he have been allowed to be so happy, just to see every thing crumble? It had been some time since Severus had last cried. He did it this time.  
  
In the next three days, Severus wandered through London, trying to decide where to go. Finally he made up his mind and decided to put himself at the Marauders' mercy.  
  
He went looking after them, but they were nowhere to be found.  
  
'Card Manor' was gone. It was not the first time they had changed location though. He went to look at the other places they had been before. To no avail.  
  
Severus decided to look for Jen then. He knew where her school was. He sat all morning in front of it, waiting for the students to leave the old building.  
  
At lunchtime, they did.  
  
He saw several girls dressed in school uniform, chatting in happy tones with each other.  
  
In the middle of them, like a piece that didn't fit, was a blond, shorthaired girl so sad, in a world of her own.  
  
Severus approached her.  
  
"Jen."  
  
The girl looked at him.  
  
"Pup." She hugged him in there, in front of the other girls, who started a collective tease.  
  
Severus shielded her from the other girls with his back and moved away with her.  
  
"I can't go!" She complained. "My mother will call home to check if I'm there!" She was talking in a high-pitched tone. "They'll never trust me again. I know it!"  
  
"Oh, Jen." Severus was feeling so guilty and seeing her this way wasn't helping at all. "Don't fret. I'll just keep you company 'till you get home. Then I'll go. I promise."  
  
She seemed able to cope with that proposal.  
  
"What happened?" Severus asked softly.  
  
"I told my parents." She said in a whisper. "They got mad at me. I've never seen my dad so angry. Then he drove us to the card boxes. Johnny and beef were there. You and Javier were nowhere to be seen. Dad has been there every day since, trying to find Javier."  
  
"What happened to Beef and Johnny?" Severus was almost afraid to hear the answer.  
  
"Dad took them to the orphanage. They accepted them back there. They were totally freaked out, Johnny and Beef. Mum and Dad found Johnny cute. I heard them talking in the kitchen about adopting. They don't seem interested in adopting Beef. What happened?"  
  
"Hum?"  
  
"I didn't tell my parents about you, but Johnny and Beef were so scared, they wouldn't shut up. They told me you looked."  
  
Severus looked at his shoes.  
  
"They said you were scary." She chose to say.  
  
"Did you tell them? About me being."  
  
"No. I couldn't make things worse. What happened? Do you know where Javier is?"  
  
"No. When I left he was with Johnny and Beef."  
  
"They said he left after you. But they don't know where. Why did you scare them?"  
  
"It was not on purpose. I was mad at Javier. He was mad at us. At me. I just snapped and started to scream. I was MAD. I didn't know I could get this. I'm definitely a vampire."  
  
"What? Did you bite them?"  
  
"Of course not! But I was looking like."  
  
"Where can Javier be?" Jen whispered. "He has to be around here somewhere." She started to cry. "I'll never forgive myself, if something happened to him."  
  
"Don't say that! I'm sure he is fine." He desperately wanted to believe that.  
  
Jen would have none of it.  
  
"Don't bullshit me! You know as well as I do what he was up to. For all we know." She was crying openly now and couldn't speak any more.  
  
Severus held her tight, wishing he could make her stop crying. As if that would make things all right.  
  
He didn't say a word though. He stayed put, helplessly allowing her to give voice to her pain. He couldn't do the same now. He had to know what had happened to the stubborn Spanish boy.  
  
When they got in front of her house, she asked if he would like to go inside. Her eyes were pleading him not to accept.  
  
"No. I have to go." He left her then, without another word.  
  
He was going through that street for the twentieth time.  
  
"Pup."  
  
He turned and saw the man; Jen's father.  
  
"You're Pup, aren't you?" He asked.  
  
"Actually that's not my birth name." He regretted his wisecrack answer at the moment he said it. "Yes I'm Pup." He admitted in an apologising tone.  
  
"You lied to me the other time, Pup." The man accused.  
  
"I was trying to help. Yes I did. I'm sorry."  
  
"Did you runaway from the orphanage too, or the part about your parents was the truth?"  
  
"I Didn't run from the orphanage." Was all the answer he gave.  
  
"What are you doing here? Why are you not at school?"  
  
"I'm searching for Javier."  
  
"Don't you know where he is?"  
  
This angered Severus. Would he be searching for Javier if he knew his whereabouts? Then he calm down. He had lied to the man before, so he was entitled to be suspicious about him.  
  
"I don't know where he is. I just want to be sure he is okay."  
  
Jen's father looked at him for some moments.  
  
"Me too." He said.  
  
"You're a good person."  
  
"Go home, Pup."  
  
"I have to find Javier."  
  
"The police are searching for him. I'm looking for him. Social Services are looking for him. You're just a boy." He said, not unkindly. "Let adults do adult work."  
  
"You don't understand. I have to find him. He's my friend and I let him down."  
  
"So you had a fight. It happens. Your friendship will survive that." The man's speech was abruptly cut off. He was looking off somewhere over Severus' shoulder, at a pile of rubbish bins nearby. Quickly, he strode towards them.  
  
Severus was confused by this behaviour but followed him anyway.  
  
As the man stopped and confirmed what he had saw. He warned Severus; "Pup, stay there! Don't come closer."  
  
Severus couldn't care less about the warning. Those were Javier's boots he was seeing. Severus had stolen them himself.  
  
"Pup, NO!" Jen's father tried to block his view, but Severus was quicker. He rounded the man and met the most horrible sight he had seen in his young life. Javier's broken body lay, twisted in the garbage and half his head was gone. 


	11. Fall of the angel

Disclaimer: J. K. Rowlings did it. And I'm glad she did. I created my runaways and family.  
  
Thank you to all of you who read this story. Thank you so much for the lovely reviews and support. It meant so much to me.  
  
This is "Runaway" last chapter. I will write a sequel. Hope you are still willing to read it. :P  
  
  
  
  
  
Fall of the angel  
  
Severus couldn't advert his eyes from the horrid scene.  
  
He would later know Javier had been shot point blank. He didn't really understand muggle weapons then and wouldn't ever be an expert. He saw their effects though, and would not forget. This had been an execution.  
  
Muggles could do that. They could blow a child's head off.  
  
Severus was sure now. He hated muggles. He was trembling uncontrollably.  
  
Jen's father tried to hold him and move him from the gruesome view, but he wouldn't move or turn his eyes.  
  
"Pup, lets go." The man said. "We have to go to the police."  
  
"He's dead." Severus said.  
  
".Yes Pup, move."  
  
"There's nothing we can do now." Severus maintained.  
  
"I don't think you should be here." The man tried once more to make him move, but Severus wouldn't. He kept studying the way the body lay, trying to find something. He couldn't exactly point what.  
  
There was blood on Javier's fingers and nails. Severus could see. The boy had tried to fight before falling.  
  
Then he noticed. Under the body's left hand, a gold chain he had seen before. Severus bent and picked it of the garbage.  
  
"Pup, don't touch."  
  
Severus bared his teeth and viciously, pushed the hand the man was leaning on his shoulder.  
  
"I hate muggles!" He screamed.  
  
"Pup?"  
  
"Murderers!"  
  
The man was anxious but was still trying to keep some control of the situation. "Pup. Let me take you home. The police will take care of. Of Javier."  
  
"Let me go!" Severus pushed the man again. "They'll pay for this!"  
  
"Pup, come on. Let the adults."  
  
"Oh, yes! Adults! You've done a great job so far!" He said, his viciousness growing. He wanted to hurt the man, just because he was there. He wanted to make the world feel the way he was feeling.  
  
  
  
"Pup!"  
  
"My name is NOT Pup! Stop calling me that! You're not allowed to call me that! Only my friends can!!!"  
  
"I don't know your name."  
  
Severus wasn't listening. With the gold chain clutched in his hand, he ran from Jen's father.  
  
The man stayed behind, confused.  
  
The sun was so hot and uncomfortable for a November day. People in the streets were walking, careless to Javier's death. They were moving on with their lives, the same way they had, when Severus had first arrived in London. To them everything was just the same. Nothing out of the ordinary had happened. Would they care if they knew about Javier? What did these muggles care about the whereabouts of a runaway street child?  
  
In these last three months, no one had spared a second glance to the four young thieves. All over this time Javier had pursued his downfall, their lives had remain in the same cosy routines.  
  
Severus hated them, he'd see them suffer, and he knew just with whom to begin.  
  
Running as fast as he could, in spite of the heat, he got to that street not too far away from the river. He didn't look to the sides. He didn't stop to think. Just went to that particular building door.  
  
"Alohomora!" He chanted without care of being heard. The lock opened and the door slammed against the wall with a loud sound.  
  
"What the fuck is this?" A muggle in blue denim ran in front of Severus holding a gun.  
  
"Petrificus totalis" With a cold smile playing in his lips, Severus pointed his wand so fast, the man had not a small chance to pull the trigger.  
  
Two others ran out from the nearest room. Almost without effort, Severus pointed his vampire-cored wand at them and said;  
  
"Araneorum telae!" The horrified drug dealers fell to the floor with the weight of an invisible net over them. They tried to free themselves but only got more wrapped in it, until they couldn't move any more. Moments later they were turning cyanotic, unable to breath.  
  
"So. This is why, this is dark arts!" Severus told no one with a sardonic smile. Then he passed before them without a second glance.  
  
He looked inside the room the two men had left and saw it empty, but for a couple of chairs and a plain table loaded with wads of money. Severus went to the door in front of him and opened it, loudly, with a repulsive spell.  
  
Inside a fat man he had met before was closing a valise with such a scared face, his eyes were goggled and sweat was falling over his stuffed cheeks.  
  
"You bastard." Severus muttered.  
  
All over the room were small bags with white powder. Javier had been right.  
  
Severus smirked. Javier had been right. Javier had been caught. This was Severus' turn to do something, and even if he found the same fate as the unfortunate boy, he'd take his revenge first.  
  
"Pellere!"- He did the repulsive spell against the fat man. The drug dealer bumped against the wall with a crash and landed screaming in terror.  
  
"You killed my friend." Said Severus conversationally.  
  
"I. I don't know what are you talking about."  
  
"Don't you? Pellere." The man crashed against the table sending little bags in every direction. "Do you wish to think again?" He took the gold chain out of his pocket and showed it.  
  
"What are you?" The man could hardly talk.  
  
"What does a pig like you need to know? Pellere!" The fat man crashed once again with the wall and started weeping.  
  
Severus picked one of the bags from the floor and opened it.  
  
"So. All this trouble for this stuff. Is it that good?"  
  
The man kept crying without wavering his eyes from Severus.  
  
"IS IT?" Severus demanded an answer with his foot over the man's belly.  
  
"YES!"  
  
Severus handed him the bag.  
  
"Eat it."  
  
"What?"  
  
"Eat. It!"  
  
"Please!"  
  
"You said it was good!"  
  
"It will kill me!"  
  
"Oh, really? I thought you were supposed to get 'high'. I wanted to see that. Well. I suppose seeing a pig die can be entertaining too." Severus pressed further with his foot.  
  
"Please."  
  
Severus was watching the drug dealer's eyes. He wanted to savour the fear there. He wanted to make the man feel the way Javier must have felt before dying. The man's eyes betrayed him. As he was pleading with his mouth, his eyes told another story. Like a cornered animal, the man decided to fight his way out. 'Do pigs fight for their lives?' Severus thought briefly as a gun appeared at the man's hand, as quick as magic.  
  
"Expeliarmus!"  
  
Severus was fast at duelling. His uncle Belchior had spent some time training him. The man was pulling the trigger though and Severus knowledge of muggle weapons was close to none. The spell pushed the gun but didn't stop the bullet. With thunderous noise, the gun was shot and the bullet left in the opposite direction to Severus at a gas bottle.  
  
The boy wizard acted on instinct to the gun's noise. He pulled a magic shield around him. Another spell none of his colleagues from school could perform, but he had mastered it before first setting foot there.  
  
Then, the world collapsed around him in fire and rubbish.  
  
  
  
  
  
Everything hurt.  
  
Severus opened up his eyes.  
  
He had shut them to the brilliant light of the explosion and kept them closed as he felt everything crash against the magic shield.  
  
Amazingly, he wasn't in the building anymore, but in the street in front of it. He was not too far away from the rubbish bins he had hid some days before.  
  
The bins were turned in the floor, due to the shock impact. Their contents were spread through the street.  
  
The building was on fire and people were starting to approach the spot with shouts of surprise and consternation.  
  
Severus dragged himself behind one of the fallen bins and watched the street.  
  
He saw two men apparating in the street, incredibly unnoticed by the muggles. One was around his forties and was fearsome to watch. His hair was greying, his face had scratches and scars all over and he held himself in a proud stance. The other had long red hair and was younger.  
  
"You see." The older man was asking in a deep voice. "I'm telling you. This is death eater's work."  
  
"Are you sure?" The younger man looked sceptic. "Alastor, there's no green skull in the air."  
  
"There are four dead muggles after a huge display of magic. What do you think this was Arthur? Don't tell me you think your school boy did this." The man 'Alastor' smirked.  
  
"I guess not." Admitted Arthur. "Two of them were already dead. They were tortured with a silver net."  
  
"Dark magic." The older man confirmed. "You can do the maths."  
  
"I guess you're right."  
  
"I'm telling you. Always be prepared. These bastards are here to stay."  
  
"We'll take care of this."  
  
"Did you catch any of them?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Do you know why?"  
  
"No."  
  
"They are everywhere."  
  
"I don't understand."  
  
"The ministry."  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"They are at the ministry, at the muggle café next door, at your best friend's house... At the ministry."  
  
"I can't believe that." Said a disgusted Arthur.  
  
"You can be sure. Be prepared, I warn you."  
  
"We'll catch them." Promised the younger wizard.  
  
"We will. We'll catch these bastards. The sick maniacs who torture and kill innocent muggles. They'll rot in Azkaban for this."  
  
Severus could hardly breath in terror. Azkaban? He'd be sent to Azkaban!! The explosion hadn't been his doing but the net had been. Severus had not felt the least bit of guilt then. He had been madly furious. Had felt righteous. Now he was imagining Azkaban. He was feeling doomed.  
  
Severus had heard father and uncle Belchior talking freely about the wizard's prison in front of him.  
  
He had thought then, with some sort of fascination, it would be so cool to see a dementor and even feel it's effects.  
  
He wasn't that interested now.  
  
They would investigate and he'd be found guilty. Those two could only be aurors. Mum had said once the aurors always catch their criminals.  
  
Arthur performed some spells Severus didn't recognise.  
  
"Can't find anything."  
  
"I don't think they're still around." Said Alastor. "The fuckers. Probably disaparated without time to project their dark mark."  
  
"Creepy people... I don't think we can do anything here now."  
  
"Muggle authority will investigate."  
  
"We'll have to do something..."  
  
"Do what? They'll just reach the conclusion it was a gas explosion." Said the older man.  
  
"That's possible."  
  
Without another word, the two wizards disaparated.  
  
The muggles in the street were as unaware of the wizards' departure as of their arrival. They were muttering words of consternation.  
  
Severus was hearing at some distance the sound of the alarm of the fire engine. Slowly, painfully he rose from behind the fallen bins and moved away.  
  
His muscles were sore and he was limping but he choose to ignore the pain. All his thoughts were focused in Azkaban.  
  
Where could he go? The aurors would catch him. He was a criminal. He had killed those muggles. Maybe he deserved Azkaban. Maybe...  
  
On the other hand, maybe those muggles had deserved what they got. They had cut Javier's future short.  
  
Severus would go to Azkaban but would NOT repent. Javier had his revenge. Severus had avenged Javier AND Javier's parents. He felt righteous!!!  
  
He felt lousy.  
  
"Damn. I'm a murderer."  
  
  
  
  
  
"That's it! They'll catch me and they'll throw me to prison."  
  
"It can't be!" Jen told him, paler than ever. "You'll have to run!"  
  
"They're aurors! They can catch everybody! That red haired bloke you met is an auror!"  
  
"He didn't catch you yet."  
  
"Yet."  
  
"Well he didn't. But..."  
  
"But? No. No, don't tell me."  
  
"What?"  
  
"I'm scared of your ideas."  
  
"I would be offended, but I'm too worried about you. If you had heard me the first time, you would be safe at home now."  
  
"But Javier."  
  
"Shut up! I'm not ready to speak about Javier!" She screeched with her hands over her hears.  
  
"Okay, okay!" He raised his hands in a peace gesture.  
  
"Do something! Catch that 'Knight Bus'. Call that auror and get your arse home!"  
  
"If I call that auror."  
  
"Act the innocent child."  
  
"Jen."  
  
"You're a good actor. I've seen you in action! Act cute!"  
  
"That will never work! I'll be thrown to Azkaban for the rest of my life."  
  
"They'd have to connect you to this mess."  
  
"They've been looking for me."  
  
"Because you ran from home! Not for murder!" She pointed.  
  
Merlin, that hurt. Severus couldn't even dispute it. He was a murderer.  
  
"I'm so scared." He confessed.  
  
Jen took hold of his hand and squeezed a bit.  
  
"It will work out." She urged him.  
  
"Jen."  
  
"Yes?" She heard the pleading in his voice.  
  
"I'm sorry."  
  
"Sorry?"  
  
"For messing things up. Everything I touch breaks. My mother loathes me."  
  
"I don't."  
  
Insecure, Severus looked at the blond girl.  
  
"Don't be afraid." Jen squeezed his hand again. "I like you Puppy. I'll keep liking you."  
  
"Tell Beef and Johnny I'm so sorry. I wish they hadn't seen me that way."  
  
"Pup, they like you too! I'm sure they do! Don't be afraid. Everything is going to be alright."  
  
Severus understood then, he was looking for those words. Jen, in her most good will, had provided them but Severus had grown so much in the last hours he couldn't really take them at face value.  
  
"I don't know that."  
  
"Trust me."  
  
"I do." And he did. But matters were not in Jen's hands, even if he wished they were.  
  
"Go home Pup."  
  
"My name is Severus." He touched her nose.  
  
Jen smiled softly.  
  
"With a name like that, you should stick with Pup."  
  
"Go inside. I don't want the auror to know that you know me. He'd change you memory and I don't want you to forget me."  
  
"You'll call him then?"  
  
"I will."  
  
"I'll miss you." She hugged him quickly before closing her bedroom window.  
  
Severus climbed the water pipe down in to the street. He waited some minutes then, sighing in resignation, he did a warming spell. Since he was doomed, he might as well be warm. Damn cold place.. He wondered if Azkaban was this cold.  
  
The red haired man aparated in front of him.  
  
"Don't you know, you're not allowed to do magic outside your school, boy?  
  
Severus glared at him.  
  
Arthur observed the strange Slytherin boy. All dressed in dirty, muggle clothes. He wanted to ask him how had he fared among the muggles. How had the boy adapted and his impressions, but the boy's stance stopped him. 'As unapproachable as any Slytherin.' Arthur, like all his family and ancestors had been a Gryffindor and couldn't really understand their rival house. He liked children though and would try to help the boy in front of him.  
  
As for Severus, he couldn't think of a day he'd been more terrified.  
  
"I'm not going." He said looking at the sides trying to find a way out.  
  
"Calm down! Why don't you want to come?" Arthur blocked his way. Severus almost laughed in hysterics. Why? Azkaban was not supposed to be a playground. He caught himself in time and remained in silence.  
  
"Look boy. Severus. Your parents are worried with you."  
  
"Right."  
  
"They are! They want you back. Your mother is worried sick!" Arthur assured.  
  
"Right." His speaking skills seemed to be regressing.  
  
"Look. You're missing school. You know we're at the end of November. You don't want to get behind your classmates, do you?"  
  
School! If he could get inside of Hogwarts, no one would touch him. He'd be safe there. Maybe.  
  
"I'll only go with you, if you take me to Hogwarts." He declared.  
  
"Don't you want to see your parents first?"  
  
"NO!"  
  
Arthur was appalled.  
  
"Okay." He said. "To Hogwarts then. I think your parents will be hurt though."  
  
Severus didn't answer.  
  
"Are you sure?" Arthur pressed.  
  
"I am."  
  
At her bedroom window, with all lights off, Jennifer saw her best friend disappear with the red haired man.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
This is it. Please review so I'll know what you thought of my story. Until next time, love you all Aliera 


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